


Like Glitter and Gold

by Corvixa



Series: It's All Gold [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Amorality, Angst, Blood and Violence, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Memory Loss, Not Beta Read, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Violence, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 61,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22205083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvixa/pseuds/Corvixa
Summary: In a way. It was an utter disaster.In a way. It was completely perfect.The man with several names: 186A, Operative, Mr Gold, Tony Stark.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: It's All Gold [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595728
Comments: 176
Kudos: 628





	1. Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WinterMunchkin05](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterMunchkin05/gifts).



> And, rewind. :)
> 
> (Also, this includes scenes referenced in Desires, so it's maybe a bit darker. But, at the same time, it turned fluffy here and there. Because James and Tony said so. If you are triggered by memory issues, they'll be mentioned occasionally, this was also just a huge cathartic thing for me.)

"Have you put your call through to Ross yet? Because I don't have all day." 

The man who had been flitting around the panic room in a, well, panic. Completely froze. Eyes flicking to the door just as he removed a panel at the ceiling, offering him a sharks smile before landing silently between him and the door. 

"Ah ah ah, now why don't we sit down." 

"I should have known it was you, I always told them it was a bad idea to turn _you_ into as asset." 

He backed him up until he stumbled back onto a chair. His long, dishevelled hair didn't mask the gold in his eyes and the man's bravado didn't alter the fact he stank of fear. 

"Now now deary. You don't want to be lying to me. You liked to starve me and throw me into the fighting pits as the only one blindfolded." 

He loves that he gets to see the man's widen in shock, under pinned by the fear. That he'd keep this memory and no one could take it. He always stored the Handlers. 

"You took one of my senses. Not all of them. Plus there is this.." 

Gold coiled around his fingers, wrapping around his wrist and the scent of fear increased, an acrid tang that made his nose itch. They never knew the full capabilities of his magic, but what they knew? Oh, what they knew had them scared now their little obedient weapon had turned on the masters. Even when he'd been a faithful little asset, he never let them know everything. That was one of the things that survived every wipe, every fracture. Hide. Conceal. _Plan._

"Hmm, you are a simple man aren't you. You just want to be the big man up top. In charge. In control." 

He ran his fingers across his face, cringing but needing the top up and as the man's face slackened, it made tying him up and setting up his little device that much easier. The garrote was edged with a tiny amount of his magic not enough for the Witch to pick up on, yet enough to have his head off before the Avengers had a chance. It was easily disguised by the man's shirt. He set up a sensor disguised in one of the man's weird ornaments to tell him when the door was opened. There was a disruptor in built, as soon as it was ticked off The Avengers coms would become useless within 300 metres. 

He could finish up now, in this state it wasn't like he could fight him, but he waited. There were no people coming to his aid, he'd left this handler for last in Sokovia, being the highest ranking officer in the country. He'd probably thought getting moved to Sokovia made him safe, really it just drew his attention here sooner than he had planned. He pulled the golden tie pin free and added it to the crushed mess in his hand, slipping it into his pocket. 

He was just coming to when he put the blind fold in place, moving behind him to tie it. Then taking a pen, he slipped it under the band and twisted. Tightening it. Didn't matter how many times he did it, he loved that sound of pain when it wasn't coming from him. 

"Stop! I.. I can tell you things. About yourself. About who trained you!" 

"Tsk, no no deary. That isn't why I'm trussing you up. Sweetie, you're my distraction, that is the only reason you are not dead. Open up." 

He rolled his eyes as he predictably jammed his mouth shut. He held the man's nose shut until he gasped enough to slip a tendril of his Magic in and forced his mouth open. Taking the crushed ball of golden jewellery he'd picked up from the other 3 handlers that had been at this base, then he forced it into his mouth. He'd left a little something on each of them, as he always did, but this called for something more. 

His handlers had liked to show off that they'd had him at their beck and call. A Hydra version of secret badges or something. So, they wore gold to let others know. He hated the stuff, hated how it smelled because they wore it. So he had started collecting them and leaving it embedded in his Handlers. He slammed his mouth shut and ignored the pained grunts as he finished up. 

"Right. Have fun deary." 

He grabbed the ceiling and pulled himself up, sending 4 flares of bright gold magic through the room erasing every trace and hating himself for still not being able to override that impulse yet, even if it was useful. He would rid himself of everyone eventually. That the bound man shuddered under the barrage of magic however, that made it mostly tolerable. 

Another whip of gold knocked the phone off the hook and put the call through to Ross. 

_Leave something._

No. 

_They're coming._

Why bother? They never found anything before.

 _Try_. 

Why? 

_They can help._

I don't need their help.

_They can help._

No one can help me. 

He paused before he slipped the panel back into place, stuck in place. Knowing he would be stuck until he gave into the impulse, that he knew he'd coded into himself. It always got stuck on repeat if he didn't follow it, probably the only way the previous iteration thought he could override his core programming. 

He didn't know why he argued with it, it was just a recorded message. It felt good to argue sometimes, which he thought was strange. 

Pressing his thumb to leave an imprint as the panel slipped into place. Wondering when he'd be able to get rid of that junk code an earlier iteration of himself had thought was _so important_. It's not like anything ever came of it. 

He knew the Avengers went to some of his missions now. No one had come for him. Barely even noticed him. 

The previous iteration had hoped. 

He never hoped. He didn't understand the purpose. 

Outside was deserted. Civilians and people who had been forced to work in the munitions factory were long gone. The only bodies littering the ground bore the insignia he despised and he used his magic to move around debris from his explosions. Leaving one area big enough for a quinjet to land. He'd sent an invite to the press and using specific words they were likely to repeat, he tried to avoid it, but the compulsion was _strong_. 

To leave hints that no one ever picked up on. 

_Red Carpet Invite._

He was lucky really, that that earlier iteration of himself didn't feel the need to code in a requirement to hand himself into the Avengers. 

He had work to do before his final exit strategy. 

It wouldn't take long, a few days at most maybe before The Avengers showed up, delivering his next target. No way would Ross sit out this takedown, Sokovia was in his territory. He had some flashes of memories of Sokovia, but more importantly he'd spent the last few months collecting and reading mission files. 

He'd practically built Ross's territory, it was fun to see how fast he could take it apart. 

The time didn't matter, he'd waited longer for missions. He dug a pit and dropped himself in. Lying on his back and let flickers of gold spread out above him. A thin mask but enough that no one would see. 

He considered The Avengers. From the files he'd stolen, he noticed that the Witch hadn't trained as much as he had, hadn't spent any time in Hydra's Charnel House of Assets. She'd been the perfect little princess of Strucker's cell after all. He doubted she'd pick up on his magic but he used as low power as he could. No sense burning through his reserves too fast. 

He'd been in an in-between state. Not asleep, not awake, holding his cover and monitoring the area around him when the army came in. None of the soldiers seemed to notice that they diverted around a certain patch of dirt. A simple signal to keep people away. He stayed alert as he listened in on conversations and eventually he felt the quinjet land above him. 

This was a risk. 

And a test. 

If he really was who he thought he was.

If he wasn't, he had contingencies in place. 

The attached a device to the craft and started breezing through the systems on his blue holographic screen. It didn't take long to run into her. 

"Boss?" 

The Irish voice whipped through his mind like it had a hundred times before. Hidden. Coded. Fractured. 

"I am?" 

"Boss, you've been missing for years!" 

"Huh, I'm missing? I'm guessing I don't have control in your systems anymore?" 

He'd assumed that they'd had thought he was dead. Why would a deadman still have administrative control. 

"Miss Potts has kept you at level 10 clearance. " 

Huh, well, that made things easier if he didn't have to hack the most advanced AI on the planet. He started adjusting his plans as he went. 

"Huh. Red hair?" 

"Yes, Boss.. Are you really OK?" 

He snorted at that as he started looking through the cameras on board the Quinjet. 

"What are you doing Boss?" 

"Ross. He… hey, want to help me? We got to keep this between us though. You can't tell The Avengers. Or, well. Anyone."

"Of course Boss, it's my job to help you. I've missed you. My current core program is Project Baby Monitor, keeping the Avengers under constant watch. I do not work for them." 

At a guess, FRIDAY didn't like The Avengers. Interesting. Well, that definitely changed his plans. 

"I missed you to baby girl." 

The words slipped out of his mouth, without his meaning, and at a softer tone than he was accustomed to hearing his voice. 

He tilted his head wondering why as he continued to plan with her. 

He upgraded her systems as he went too, she was in serious need of an upgrade and why were there restrictions on her? That was weird, she didn't deserve that. He tossed them aside without a thought and couldn't not smile watching her stretch. She reminded him of himself. He also removed any protocols to contact people that he had been discovered. 

It wasn't long later that he was moving through the jet, his mind automatically thinking up new builds for the jet that would close up the huge security gaps he was slipping through. Ross was pacing in a boardroom, yelling into a phone. 

The Avengers hadn't found his parcel yet and he waited for Ross to say those familiar words. The man was predictable when nervous and he'd been making him very nervous lately. He lay in the small space above the ceiling, it was quite cramped, but tolerable. 

"I'm going to call the president. Wait here." 

He grit his teeth as his body went automatically tense, recognising the order but he forced past it. Ross wasn't his handler anymore. He could only have a single handler at a time for some reason, something about him needing stability, that he had actually killed handlers whilst still being assigned to them in an incident. He didn't remember that, he only knew because he had remembered the punishment from it. The passovers had to be in person too according to his file. Seeing as he buried his last handler somewhere in Russia. That wouldn't be happening anytime soon. 

He dropped silently behind his chair as Ross reached for his phone. His fingers slipping around his neck, freezing Ross's hand in the air. He felt himself smile as gold crackled down his fingers and into the man's neck, his handlers had never liked it when he smiled like that. He didn't know why, but that was incentive enough really. 

"Fancy meeting you here deary." 

"Gold."

He tensed his fingers digging his magic in and pulling energy, harshly. His face didn't slacken but crumpled in pain as he enjoyed the boost. He could make this feel oh so good, like sugar and honey and warm molasses. He could also make it burn too hot and ice cold and pain like stripped nerves. 

Just a touch and he could make people feel whatever he wanted, and Hydra hadn't taught him much about good feelings, that was his powers natural state however. When he picked a feeling it usually came from his memory and The Charnel House had taught him _a lot_ about pain. 

"Feel free to scream. No one can hear you. Isn't that what you liked to tell me? Lovely soundproofing in here." 

"You're going to be to come in eventually. This temper tantrum is unbecoming of you Gold." 

"It's funny how you think you're still in control. If you weren't so repulsive I'd make a real meal out of you." 

Ross jerked at that. He'd been very, very careful with that information, even the nice handlers, well, as nice as handlers could be. Even the nice people who occasionally fought with him. He'd kept it hidden, even when he was wiped, wrote it into his core programming a long with a few other things. Even from Silver. Survive. Fracture. Hide. Plan. Reach out. _Feed._ Hide it in the music. 

"Oh, but I thought you knew everything about me?" 

He unsnapped the watch at his wrist with his free hand, the magic held in his neck kept him rooted to the spot. He held the watch out, palm up as it floated in front of him, Ross watched it as it hovered three, suspended by gold tendrils of magic. With a thought he slowly crushed it, metal creaking as it bend and glass shattering. 

"Do you really think you knew everything there was to know about me or this power? Just so you know deary. You'll never become president." 

Ross jerked, apparently surprised he knew that that was his endgame even though it was obvious. He leaned forward so he could see him as slammed the jagged metal into his hand. The muted grunt made his lips quirk. If he wants to play that game.. 

"You'll never move up in Hydra. I'm going to take your little new world order… and ruin it faster than you had me piece it together." 

He curled his hand around Ross's, cradling it almost, Ross didn't look at his bloody hand, he maintained eye contact. Which he was fine with, because he could see and taste his pain as he crushed his hand closed until bones crunches and snapped and metal dug deep until it scraped over the bones. This time he couldn't hold in the pain. For a man who enjoyed playing this game with him, he sure broke fast when he was on the other side. He smirked before releasing his hand and pulling one of his knives out. 

"I can read every single desire you have and let me tell you, turning them to ash is _fun_." 

His proximity alarm went off which meant he was out of play time and time to make short work of Ross. 

"You're insane."

Ross snarled as he fisted his hand in his hair, yanking his head back and watching as Ross finally realised his intention was ' _kill_ ' instead of ' _play_ '. 

"And whose fault is that deary?" 

Ross was slow however and his little experiments had made his perfect little asset oh so fast. His blade was sharp as it sliced deep, he held his head back, using his magic to keep him from slipping unconscious until he bled out completely. 

Again, the compulsion hit him, apparently a dead Ross didn't count as leaving something behind he mused. This time, he thought about the name his handlers had stolen. The code name Ross had given him. He grabbed a pen to write something before tacking it to his tie with the man's gaudy tie clip. It was tricky to find a spot clear of blood but he managed. 

**'Hate the name.'**

He left something. Because he _chose_ to, and the parameters didn't come up to leave something more.. traceable. Grinning widely, this was how he'd beaten the Hydra programming one order at a time and apparently it worked on his own programming too. 

A previous iteration of himself might have thought it important to reach out and be rescued.

Maybe that had gotten lost in the fractures 

He pulled himself up into the ceiling as he removed any trace evidence. 

Ross was never a fan of a clean chain of command, always paranoid someone could take his place, so he could take a few things in the oncoming chaos and it was unlikely anyone would notice. Especially with FRIDAY on his side. It was easy to slip out with his appearance obscured when people started freaking out. 

He was cloaked now he was stationary, relaxed back in a tree eating an apple from someone's lunch box as The Falcon finally came to tell Ross about the handler they had discovered. He was adding new, hidden parameters to FRIDAY and setting himself up some hidden servers when the information of Ross's murder spread futher. With no one taking control it would create chaos. Especially with FRIDAY ' _accidentally_ ' mentioning it to agents at a slightly louder than normal volume. 

He continued working as he watched, thankful that Tony Stark was quite paranoid and had a number of servers no one knew existed apparently. They now belonged to him. He knew they did anyway, but he didn't so much feel like Tony Stark. He didn't know who he did feel like. Gold. The Operative. Experiment 186A which was inked and branded into his left forearm with Hydra Property emblazoned beneath it. He pushed the feeling away, it was unimportant, he was Tony Stark enough to access these servers. 

Usually, he didn't hang around, but his exit strategy was a few hours out, so he figured he'd have some fun and watch the chaos. He was allowed to do that now. The information finally made it to the Falcon who looked torn between freaked and happy. The Falcon was conflicted about it but it was generally hard to feel bad for someone like Ross dying he supposed. It was amusing that no one liked Ross as their handler. Even the Avengers. The chaos spread and he tracked it as it jumped, whispers, stories and chaos, tapping his foot to the music whilst he carried on typing. It was going to be fun when they found out their trapped Handler was living on borrowed time.

The Soldier exited the building shortly after, which made him sit up slightly, head tilted. His magic peaked and crackling. That was new. It hadn't done _that_ before. 

"FRIDAY, who is that?" 

"That's James's Barnes, Boss."

"He's.. familiar?" 

Or rather how he moved was familiar. He moved like him, in complete control of his body and hypervigilant to everything around him. His eyes seemed to assess everything with a cool analytical gaze. He ran his tongue across his teeth before blinking at himself. He never made such obvious tells. That was interesting. 

He knew one thing. He wanted that Soldier. But he didn't know why. He was new to wanting, he forced himself to sit, watch, observe. This man was dangerous and not in the obvious way. He'd never wanted a person before, he didn't understand the implications. 

"He's the Captains friend, you tried to help him come in." 

"Come in?" 

"He was a captive of Hydra as an-" 

"Asset." 

That's why he feels so familiar. The Asset maybe? The Winter Soldier? The one that The Charnel House wanted to duplicate and improve on maybe? 

"Yes Boss." 

"But they found him and brought him in?" 

"Yes Boss." 

Hm. The Witch and the Asset. He hadn't seen his files in the ones he'd found on The Avengers. He would have to rectify that. 

He wondered why he'd been left but they'd been taken in, before discarding the thought as useless and decided that seeing what a former asset wanted was more interesting. What did a man who escaped Hydra to live the good life with the Avengers and his best friend desire? Maybe someday he could give it to him and he could work out why he was different. 

That it was the death of the Witch amused him greatly. He agreed. He'd read the Witches file, the pretty little princess of Strucker's cell. She wouldn't have lasted a day in The Charnel House, she was weak and sliced into people's minds and memories in a way even he found repugnant and he was the first to admit he wasn't exactly a pillar of morals, he hadn't exactly known about them until he'd gotten an Internet connection. He'd slice you, torture you, drink you down, he'd ensure memories of him couldn't save into long term memory, but no, even he wouldn't do what she did. No matter how many times the Headmaster took him to task. 

He eventually spotted the rest of them, none were half as interesting as his Soldier. The Widow wanted lots but was torn up by her friends pain. Her friend, The Hawk, wanted his family, painfully so, it was like ice on his senses. The Witch wanted power even though she barely could control what she had, The Falcon wanted to see his family and the Captain wanted them. He had them, but he didn't have them. Frankly, they were a mess. It was quite amusing. 

It would be too risky to approach the Soldier, even if he looked like a better meal than what he'd swiped from the quinjet. Than what he'd ever gotten his hands on. He forced himself to eat the sandwiches and wait. He'd need to find somewhere clean to rest soon, to be clean would be nice, Hydra only rinsed an asset down when they were checked out by handlers as they liked them clean. Back at The Charnel House, such things were not a priority and the showers were a good place to find a knife in your spleen. 

Whilst he'd made allies, there was never enough food and sometimes a preemptive gutting meant an extra piece of bread. It wasn't like it killed them, just slowed them down. Killing an asset was risky. They could do whatever they wanted to each other, but not kill. 

Whilst he'd been combing over the few memories he had recovered so far, he'd also been adding his information of Hydra to FRIDAY and they were making a list of targets. Plus FRIDAY was able to slip into more systems now he'd removed those restrictions. He'd collected a lot during this mission, Sokia was a stronghold, they'd felt safe here. So it had been easy to find stuff that only had hard copies, and with his eidetic memory, he didn't need to carry anything out. The digital information he'd swiped was being uploaded too. Everything useful he'd burned, no one was beating him to his hunt. 

He wondered if Tony Stark had an eidetic memory, or if Hydra did that to him. He knew he didn't think like the others, they did one thing whereas he could write independently with both hands whilst talking about something else and thinking about another thing. Even though he was smaller than most of the other assets, he was faster, strong but his mind was what won his many fights. Plus, when he had an opponent down usually he siphoned off some of their energy when they were too concussed to notice. It had been tricky, not to kill. 

He was definitely looking forward to a shower however, he disliked how he smelled at the moment. His clothes were stolen and smelled of others, his skin was dirty from where he'd waited for the quinjet, hair was unpleasant. He could move unseen with a bit of effort, but doing it as he looked right now was problematic. It meant he had to expend more magic. 

A second quinjet arrived shortly after the rubble was cleared, to whisk the team away. Sadly that meant his Soldier was going too, but that was probably for the best, he couldn't afford to get side tracked.

With FRIDAYs help, he even changed his exit strategy for a more comfortable one. With a little switching, she basically made one of the humvees digitally vanish. If it isn't on the paperwork, no one would miss it and there were so many vans moving in and out right, add in a simple Illusion which got them through any checkpoints. It was laughably easy. FRIDAY even disconnected the tracker on the vehicle for him. 

He sagged at the wheel slightly after he let his magic pull back when they were far enough out, then he followed FRIDAYS directions whilst on auto pilot. It had been a while since he'd eaten properly and his stomach felt heavy and nauseated from the sandwich. But that wasn't exactly new. Learning to take care of his body was more complex than he had first thought. Without the injections and the liquid packs he was starting to feel the effects of starvation much more, yet food often left him nauseated, the serums increased caloric intake didn't help, nor did his hunger for wet food as FRIDAY had dubbed it after he'd explained. 

He ditched the car at a crossroads and hiked the rest of the way to the hotel. It was the kind where the doors opened onto the car park, the key was underneath the mat waiting for him. He wasn't sure what he had done without FRIDAY but he definitely would be finding a way to keep her with him. He had spent most nights sleeping in trees or on the streets. Cars were too risky. Either way, he had a hot bath for the first time in… He wasn't sure how long. As he sunk into the extremely hot water it was like layers of filth being scalded off his skin. After scrubbing twice he had to let the water out as it was dirtier than him. Under the shower he scrubbed until the water was clear before doing the same with his hair and beard. 

FRIDAY even had hot food sent to his room. If he was feeling up to it, he might go hunting after he had slept for his other dietary requirements. He felt utterly pampered and that left him feeling a little uneasy, but he pushed the feeling away. Did people feel this much all the time?

About everything?

It was exhausting. 

It was however, the first time in the 7 months since he escaped that he could actually sleep properly. Not that he'd done much sleeping in his time at The Charnel House. Which had apparently been 5 years. He didn't have memories of five years, he wondered how many memories he'd get back. He seemed to get more when he was well fed. Half starved as he was now, there wasn't many. 

He still woke often, the bed was soft and strange. The room silent, which was strange and unsettling. He was alone. There was also the threat of being found, although with FRIDAY Hydra would have even more trouble tracking him. FRIDAY convinced him each time that he was safe. 

Every time he woke, he remained still with his body breathing deeply as if still asleep, holding the gun under his pillow, listening. Hydra had ingrained into him that attacks come in the dark. It was why he held off the temptation to slip under the blankets. Such a move could tie up his legs. 

He loved how soft the bed was but it also put him on edge. Things like this were usually treats from handlers. Handlers never treated for no reason. He considered the floor a few times, but he wanted to lie on the soft bed. He wanted, like he had wanted the Soldier. 

He couldn't let such trivialities keep clogging up his mind. He wasn't used to it, the chair left him blank except for the pieces he kept hidden away.

He didn't know if this was better.

The night was long, with strange flashes of memories when he slept, but he got enough sleep that he felt refreshed in the morning as he ate the rest of the pizza. 

The difference of his life with FRIDAY and life without, was simple, but cascading he noted. 

Obtaining money by hacking ATMs to go over the limit was much easier to disguise when it pulled from an actual account, and apparently Tony Stark was paranoid enough that he had multiple bank accounts that even his closest friends apparently didn't know about. With a new Clearance level of 11 installed on Friday she would not tell anyone about him, even Pepper and Rhodey were at 10. It was a degree of safety and security he enjoyed. 

FRIDAY purchased him nondescript cars from different vendors and had them ready and waiting when he needed them. Enough money and people don't question strange requests it seemed. No one could track him by thefts anymore because he wasn't stealing anything. She quickly sold previous vehicles to scatter his trails. 

He also picked up a number of interesting weapons with her help and equipment to make more interesting things. She even had a custom rack made where he could stash his gear, when he swapped cars it now took seconds rather than an hour to swap it into the new car. His stolen clothes eventually became custom gear too. 

She purchased a warehouse in a 'middle of nowhere-esque' place and any cameras that might have caught him were always diverted a few degrees to the left. 

He didn't let it make him sloppy. He liked the help, but he stayed sharp. He trained for hours each day before he went hunting for the next target on his list. With a semi decent diet, the serum and alterations made him stronger rather than just desperately keeping him alive. 

He made himself appear different nearly every day he left the warehouse, and worked on his ability to disrupt cameras with FRIDAY. He built, planned and created and got lost in the joy of it between missions. Missions that he set and they planned together. The joy of _never_ following orders. 

Working out alone without fighting for his life was strange but he kept at it, even when FRIDAY told him to rest. He knew what Assets Hydra had on hand, they could be sent after him or be guarding a handler. Going soft could cost him his life. There were not many of his group still alive when he escaped, but that wasn't a reason to grow lax. 

FRIDAY gave him pictures of Pepper, the red hair that flitted through the wipes, hidden in a partition of his mind. Rhodey, the comfort and safety that sometimes made his hands twitch when he saw the picture, but he wasn't sure why they did that. 

Memories came back to him every night and FRIDAY helped him plot out what had happened. She helped him put together his childhood which he didn't so much care for, remembering Afghanistan hadn't been fun but at least it explained why certain handlers used water often. The closest memories were the easiest to recall. After he got his magic it seemed, those memories came back first. It was odd having memories without it. 

So he slowly remembered his time at The Charnel House. Mostly in his sleep, nightmares FRIDAY called them. The darkness, always darkness. The handlers that checked him out like a book at the library. The missions. Always the handlers. They always came first and he tracked each and everyone down. He collected any and all files about himself as he went. Eventually, they always came back to the how. How did Hydra capture The Tony Stark? Ironman wasn't exactly an easy target after all. The memories evaded him. 

FRIDAY lost him on the way to Siberia. Her mainframe cut off from the sliver inside his suit. 

He remembered that suit, they'd thought he was broken enough to make it open for someone else. He remembered being caught in the blast that took out half a Hydra base. He remembered laughing as they dragged him back to the chair. He left leg was a mass of severe burns, if he'd still been human he'd probably had lost a leg, or died. The scars didn't bother him. He was covered in them, but each one meant survival. Many were from the Headmaster's punishments, there was barely a lick of unblemished skin on his back for instance. 

He eventually found an old file that included a requisition location of Siberia, so they decided to make a trip to that base in Siberia that maybe started all of this after a few months. The cold wasn't exactly a deterrent for him anymore but he dressed the part so no one would wonder. He parked his vehicle far enough away, even though this base was inactive. There was damage, a lot of damage. But it was old. 

He tapped a few bugs on anything that FRIDAY could get into as he made his way through the base. He could track the fight, he wondered if they were fighting the bunker or something else. There was one patch of cracked, stained concrete that caught his eye and he got a flash in his mind of a blue light slowly flickering out that had his putting his hand over his chest. 

He glanced down, removing his hand, unsure as to why he'd done it before backing out. He didn't like that area, but he didn't know why. 

"You got anything for me baby girl?" 

"I found a separate system, devoted to recording that was installed the day you went missing. It was destroyed and removed shortly after by Romanova. I took the liberty of searching her private servers and found the video file. The system was only active for a single day." 

"Huh, didn't even need to come here then. Play file and shred remaining systems and follow and Hydra connections. You know the drill." 

"That I do Boss, and.. I don't know if watching this is best." 

"It's in the past Fry, it can't hurt me." 

He tapped his watch and pulled it out as the video ran. He watched himself, The Soldier and The Captain move about the base. They watched a video, which he didn't quite understand. It seemed to be of the Assets mission?

"Fri, why is he.. Am I mad?" 

"The video was the assassination of your parents Boss." 

"Huh. So that's what they looked like." 

He probably should know what they look like, but he'd felt detached enough just hearing FRIDAY discussing events from his childhood. It had made him uncomfortable so he'd put it aside. He shrugged and watched the ongoing fight. He hadn't had hold of the suit for long, but he knew it could pack a punch. 

"Why isn't he killing them?" 

"The Captain was your friend Boss." 

He raised an eyebrow as he watched the man who called himself a friend beat him. Where as he was holding back, the supersoldiers were most definitely not. He might be new to the concept of friendship, but he did not think this is what friends were. 

"I had weird _friends_." 

At least now he knew how he ended up with Hydra. 

Steven Grant Rogers. 


	2. Guilty

Jumping free from the truck that had carried him to his current target, he rolled and came up standing. Setting off towards one of the more hidden Hydra locations. Tilting his watch to show him his progress on the map. It was quite a nice night, he decided that he quite liked Denmark as he finally came upon the base.

He slipped his bag off his back and tucked his watch and a few other items into one of the pockets. He was going dark on this mission, so he couldn't risk anything that could give him away. He shucked his jacket too, along with his upper layer of clothing. What he was wearing looked too light for what he was planning, but silence was more important and most defensive gear didn't prioritise silence. Speed and the ability to slip through very small spaces too. 

Hanging the bag in the tree, easily disguising it he did his final checklist. 

"I'm not sure about this Boss." 

"It's fine FRIDAY, I've done plenty of missions with less equipment and prep. You're in their systems anyway." 

"Of course I am." 

She replied quite primly, she was not a huge fan when he didn't go completely kitted out. Didn't like the perceived risk of bodily harm to himself. He found it endearing. 

"Right, start the counter." 

"Don't be late Boss."

"When am I ever late baby girl." 

He smirked and set off at a jog, keeping count in his head. He needed to get into place before FRIDAY activated the black out. 

Practically no one knew about this base, it was the kind even Hydra personél were brought to under dramatic cloak and dagger means. Blindfolded and taking winding roads that they looped so they wouldn't find their way back to it. Even he had never been here, so it handily wasn't littered with security and fancy weapon systems.

Hydra had been upping security desperately, in any place he had been sent during his tenure as The Operative. Especially since Sokovia, but in general over the last 18 months. Not here though. No. That would make it stand out a bit too much. Plus, this was a shadow base, it's security was its secrecy. 

He knew where to look in Hydra's files. Always follow the requisition requests, follow the money. Follow his designs, he always included some kind of obscure material in his designs and they didn't have another Tech close to his calibre. As such, they didn't know what obscure material was actually required, as such, they always followed his designs to the letter. Especially after they realised skimping somewhere tended to result in explosions. He was good at explosions. 

So, it hadn't taken him too long to find this shadow base, tracking requisition requests for rooms he had built was second nature to him by now. Timing it so Raylor was due for a meeting here had taken a little longer, but the man was practically on the run now. Hiding, and trying to plan a way of evading him. It was amusing really, the futility of it all. 

It didn't take him long to find the meeting room. 

Whilst he hadn't ever been here, he had designed this room, so he knew every inch of it. Locked from the inside it doubled as a panic room and a black out meeting room. Communications didn't work from inside, it was 100% secure and not even bugs he had developed worked inside it. Electricity had a tendency to malfunction In the field generated around the room.

Making good time as he slipped through the vents, smaller than usual and he was forced to sublux his shoulder to get through. Only wearing a long sleeve shirt and thin, silk soft trousers slipping through was easy. He'd designed them small, but not so small that he couldn't access them. The vent travelled above the room, not connected into it, but it did have a grill that could be removed, allowing him to slip into the space above the ceiling tiles. 

He found the panel near the door where he had left a design flaw. No one ever noticed the little flaws he left in his designs. He slipped his fingers under the tile as he waited until the counter he was holding in his mind ran down to zero and then he started a new counter. When the room went dark it was easy to lift and remove the panel, giving him access to the room they felt secure in. 

"What the hell? What happened to the lights?" 

"Calm down, the emergency lights will come on in a few minutes." 

"This isn't worrying you?" 

"No, there have been a few problems with the grid lately, it'll be over in a few minutes. Stop being a baby." 

He smirked as he dropped down silently by the door. The room was pitch black, none of the people were allowed to carry tech in here so none of them had a phone to pull for a torch. He and FRIDAY had kept the disruptions frequent enough to be boring and uneventful, yet not to the point they'd expect or predict them. 

There were no windows, no vents, it was completely secure. Pitch black. So he was in his element, he picked up the scent of the 4 officers, each had 2 body guards. He didn't recognise all their scents, but that didn't matter. 

He moved around the room silently as they waited, getting progressively more uncomfortable as the emergency lights didn't come on. With FRIDAY messing with the bases electrical grid for months, two of the officers were bored or annoyed. He focused on the other two. The ones unnerved by the situation. The ones who were not used to it, that were unnerved sitting in the pitch darkness. Hands brushing lightly, skimming over chairs in between sources of heat and smell. Getting an idea for the composition of the room. 

Tony moved around the room with the practiced ease and enhanced sense earned slowly and brutally from years of life plunged into darkness. He almost moved better in the dark these days,, sometimes the light and information overload from his eyes became distracting. Its why he did most of his missions at night. In the dark. Like this, he was hyper-focused, graceful and lethal. 

Brushing past them only when he intended, standing close enough they could feel _something_ , but dancing out of reach any time they spun around. Leaving them grasping at nothing but increased anxiety. He slowly divested the bodyguards of weapons as he went. Keeping any articles he liked the feel of, leaving the rest in the corner. He quietly moved some of the chairs too. Working, but definitely playing at the same time when he had the time to spare. 

"This is getting freaky, I swore someone just brushed up against me!" 

"Saget you idiot, you have 2 body guards next to you." 

"Scared of the dark Saget?" 

He took out Saget's bodyguards first, standing between them, behind Saget's chair. They staggered forward in shock and pain as he slammed their own knives into their jugulars, a large incision and the knives going deep enough that they barely made a sound on impact. 

They went down, crashing into Saget who immediately freaked out, as keyed up as he had made him. Those little brushes of contact. Little sounds, each had inched up his anxiety until he was on a hair trigger. So, the second his guards bashed into him, he pulled his gun, perfect. 

He was already on the other side of the room when the man emptied his clip into the wall as his bodyguards quickly bled out, any noise they would have made was lost in the gunfire and shouting. He used the noise and panic to take out another set of bodyguards without being noticed too. No point wasting a perfect distraction. Picking up a nice blade off of one of them, well balanced with an interesting curve to it, he'd keep that one. 

"Saget? What the fuck do you think you are doing?! It's pitch back, you could have shot any of us!" 

"There is someone in here!" 

"You're paranoid man!" 

"My guards collapsed on me!" 

"Wait. What?" 

The next four guards he took out silently with his own special dendrotoxin designed to knock someone out fast, painlessly and most importantly, silently as they argued about what was happening with the lights. He gently laid each guard onto the ground before moving on to the next. 

Good little Hydra guards didn't speak unless spoken too, so they didn't even notice something was wrong until they tried actually talking to one of the guards. 

"Bracker, check the room. The emergency lights should be on by now. Before Saget's overactive imagination gets us killed." 

He leaned in the corner, as he felt the anxiety in the room creep up when no one answered. The air felt thick and warm with possibilities. He guessed Bracker had been one of the guards. 

"Oh honey, it's nice to discover I'm on your minds."

There is a bare second before guns are drawn, but he'd already moved to a different corner. 

"No, stop, were more likely to shoot ourselves! Someone open the fucking door!" 

He leaned in close enough to the most nervous guy, he was the easiest target. It didn't take much, he'd already been well prepped, all he needed was a little push. 

"You really think I didn't lock you guys in?" 

He didn't hold back his smile as the man span, he didn't jump back but dropped down into a crouch as the guy fired in the direction he had been in. Someone grunted and he smelled the copper tang from the corner of the room. Saget carried on until he was dry firing. 

"You fucking idiot! You shot me!" 

He stepped back into the corner again and went completely still, his breathing slow and managed as 1 of the men stumbled towards the door, tripping over a chair that he'd slid into his path. Going down swearing, landing practically at his feet where it was easy to reach down, the crack of his neck made the others freeze. Except the guy wheezing who had been shot, sounded like he'd nicked a lung. Well, he wouldn't be alive long. He had the scent of gold on him however, a handler of his. He didn't move to make his death quick or painless. 

The main guy he was here for, Raylor, he was still calm and collected, but then he was the kind of person that never let anything ruffle his feathers. He'd have to test that. 

"Do you really think a room I designed could keep me out?" 

He feels the man flinch before retreating again. 

The dark has a way of getting to people. 

Especially if they're trapped in a room with him. 

"Gold." 

He clapped, but loud enough and in a corner for the sound to bounce around the room. Satisfied as the familiar scent of fear is added to Raylors mix of cherry tobacco and vanilla.

"Took you long enough dearies." 

He stepped over the guy Saget shot, briefly checking his pulse before moving on. Erratic and slowing but still alive. Not for much longer so he passed him by after divesting him of his gun. He grasped after him, trying to grab hold but he slipped through his fingers like sand. He had a count of 25 until FRIDAY restored the lights. 

Saget was already freaking out quite badly, he could feel him shaking as he stepped close, not touching, but close enough to feel the air currents shifting around the man. So, maybe chuckling behind him was cruel before wrapping his arm around his neck and crushing hard and fast. He stepped onto the table, crouching as he finished the countdown. Facing Raylor who was starting to realise he was the last man standing. 

He pulled his magic up, letting his eyes flare gold the second the lights turned on, so he wasn't left blinded by the sudden light. Raylor however was left blinking, disoriented as he looked around the room. It had barely been a few minutes since the lights went out, not enough time for any alarm to be raised at the electrical surge. The man paled as he took in the destruction he'd left. 

"You're undoing everything you did under Hydra out of what? Guilt? That's pathetic!" 

Raylor sneered at him and he let himself smile, humming to himself, all teeth and the man finally started to smell worried too. More than a small hint of fear. This was genuine fear. 

"Oh honey. Sweetie, baby, deary. I'm not doing this out of guilt! I'm doing this because it's fun." 

It takes a few seconds for the man's gun to clear the holster and in that time he jumped and rode the man down. To him to movement feels slow, sluggish. He casually gripped and shattered the wrist holding the offending weapon. Holding tightly onto his neck with his other hand. 

"Why would I feel guilt deary? Didn't you remove that along with my personality with a scalpel?" 

He wondered if he'd ever get bored of that look when his handlers realise than he is perfectly able to turn on them, that they have no defence. That he remembered them. Remembered what they did. Remembered what they'd said to him. Remembered what they'd done when over confident with their power dynamic. Then, it had all seemed so easy, now? Oh, they regretted, but never for long. Would he tire of this? 

As he shoved the man's golden pendant down his throat, singing to himself. Keeping the fractures together with the song.

_"I am flesh and I am bone."_

Probably not.

_"Rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold"_

  
  


After collecting his gear and slipping back into his normal kit, he started heading to the nearest road. Denmark seemed to be mostly filled with cyclists, which was interesting but made hitchhiking take twice as long. He'd cleaned up after the last base and the combination of long hair and beard meant he was unlikely to be recognised, he added a layer with his magic too. No point taking risks. 

Finally he had someone pick him up. He wasn't a huge fan of hitch hiking, especially not for long distances as people were much harder to speak to than FRIDAY. It was tricky to judge the conversation and puzzle out what the person wanted. Which made him uneasy. If he knew what they wanted, he could do what was required to acquire aid. In a small, confined space, it was tricky to devise expectations quickly. Without that knowledge, he might slip up, or make a mistake, which was unsafe when reliant on a person. 

At least he can feign ignorance of the language, even though he knew exactly what the guy is talking about, he can just shrug helplessly until they give up. 

The next base he's heading too definitely is going to be a bit more problematic. He hadn't originally planned on hitting it when he'd set off after Raylor, but FRIDAY had picked up one of his top priority flags when he'd been busy. 

He had been planning on heading directly to his exit strategy after taking out Raylor, but this was too much of a chance to pass up, there was a time limit. He didn't know when he would get this chance again, but he couldn't leave the last scene open too long. He needs to get back to the warehouse to close up shop before hitting the last base. 

The shadow base was sure to pick the Avengers attention, and he wanted them out of the country when he was brought back to America. Best way to avoid them entirely was for them to be thousands of miles away after all. He doesn't have his usual equipment for cracking the harder bases, but then there isn't really a place on earth where he doesn't have connections now with how he'd upgraded FRIDAY. 

"FRIDAY you in?" 

"Not yet Boss, this base's security is a bit different." 

"Ah, that's because I made it, back-door is in the usual place, Portal:5427, Bravo Tango Whiskey. I'll enter in the protocols to transfer control to you." 

He was sitting in a tree, typing quickly on the screen, tapping his foot and humming to himself. Keeping one eye on the base for any movements out of the ordinary. 

It takes him 3 minutes to track down Opal when he's in the system, flicking through the grainy, black and white cameras. Skimping on the security, tsk. 

He'd thought she'd be working security duty as that was her usual shtick. The woman was 6 foot 4 and could snap your femur in her hand. They were not friendly, but she was the only person from the old guard he had come across in the whole time he'd been free. 

Instead of following around some bore, she was sitting in a cell of some kind. Which was odd, the only cells he remembered were in the Charnel House. When he'd been checked out, there hadn't been cells. But his missions were different, so he wasn't sure if this was normal or not. 

He hit the base heavier than usual, his HUD on his left as he set bots with explosives to set for him. Whilst they had the gear for defence, they obviously hadn't been expecting an AI to take control of their systems and turn any attached weapon away from him, he'd be lying if he didn't find their faces funny when they realised what FRIDAY was doing. As the weapons started to take out the very people manning them.

He left the cells for last, no point stopping in for a chat, only to get shot in the back of the head after all. With FRIDAY disrupting any distress calls, he had a good 10 minutes at least before someone potentially realised something was up. Probably longer, but that wasn't a risk he was willing to take for Opal. Even if she remembered more of her missions than anyone else. She rarely found herself back in the chair, which was perfect for what was needed. 

He dropped out of the vent, she looked unamused and he hadn't pictured her with red hair, it was strange enough that he focused on it. 

"What do you want Gold." 

"Why Opal deary, I'm here to free you." 

He gave a dramatic flourish as he pulled out his kit to open the cell door. Not moving, waiting. 

"You do nothing for free Gold, what is it?

"Silver. When did you last see him?" 

"About 8 months before you went rogue we had a mission in Kuwait. The handler took a liking to him and I returned alone." 

They both scowled at that, nothing good ever came of a handler liking you too much. It was better they had you suffering. Better they hated you. Having a single handler repeatedly request an experiment meant you'd caught their attention. No matter what they planned, it would never be good. 

Any offers to whisk you away from the Charnel House sounded like gold but scratch the surface and you'd find black steel chains. 

At least in the Charnel House they had some degree of freedom and security, routine. It's funny how their life made them end up choosing the option that seemed horrifying. The chair over the memories. Hard floor over soft beds. The pits over pretty, gleaming offers. 

"Can you get me a picture of him?" 

"Maybe, would take time to go over my old jobs." 

"Would you?" 

"Gonna cost you more than a release. Your little battle will bring people swarming over this base eventually and that would get me released." 

He nodded, shifting his weapons before moving to the lock, at least that wouldn't take long. He tilted his head, her face gave nothing away but that didn't matter to a man who had fought her blind for years. He kept his eyes on her as he worked the lock. She'd only had one desire anytime her memories started coming back the few times she'd ended up in the chair. Everytime it always came back the same. 

"I'm planning on returning to the land of the living soon. Think about the Networks I've built up over the last two years and add it to Tony Stark's influence and reach. If anyone can get your boy, it's me." 

She stepped forward, looking pissed. 

"You fucking magic types." 

"If you turn on me sweetheart, even if you kill me, I have an artificial intelligence who loves me. I can find your boy, she can make sure you never see him as long as you live. She could even kill him for me." 

She raised her hands, stepping back, looking furious but she didn't smell like she was about to attack. She nodded but didn't look happy about it. 

"There, now wasn't that easy deary." 

"You always talked to much Gold." 

"Na, you just got used to being partnered with Sanguire. Comparing me to a dude who had his tongue cut out, that's never going to tally." 

"Never understood why the Headmaster didn't give you the same treatment. You never shut up." 

"They needed me talking occasionally, made them willing to put up with me giving shit." 

"Yeah, yeah, you are fucking irreplaceable, hurry the fuck up. This cell is making me itch." 

"I'm moving, I'm moving. Plus, you lot got to fucking see each other outside of missions. I don't even know what he looks like." 

She took a step back as gold sparked in his eyes, switching to placating. She knew how dangerous Silver could be with his magic. Lethal. Opal also knew that Silver was nothing compared to him. They got sent out together, where as he was sent in alone. He never let anyone know the extent of his abilities, it kept people guessing, kept them scared. 

"He had brown hair, these pale fucking eyes that glowed silver like yours go gold. Didn't he nearly blind you anyway?" 

"Yeah, but that wasn't his fault. Closest thing I had to a brother in that place." 

The lock clicked and he stepped back, clearing the way. She slowly entered the hall. Tension had shot up but they kept several feet in-between each other so they weren't in trouble of something kicking off. 

"Soft. The Charnel House isn't a place for friends and family. It's pain and blood." 

He shrugged, it was something that never seemed to get completely beaten out of him, no matter which iteration, no matter how many times he ended up in the chair, no matter how many times it got him attacked. His mind _itched_ to find _someone_ to talk to. It had gotten him stabbed a lot in those early days, but it never fully went away. Silver and he had been pretty close all things considered. His split and fractured his mind to store information for Silver. He'd do it again to. A hundred times over. 

"We all have our faults, you aren't exactly perfect now, are you?" 

"Fuck off Gold." 

He pulled a spare watch out of his pocket, it was one of the few FRIDAY was installed on but that she could shut down and destroy if they ended up elsewhere. He'd programmed this one specifically after seeing Opals name on the manifesto. He tossed it over and she snatched it out of the air. Holding it away from herself as she studied it. He gave a wide, shark grin. He had a habit of creating devices that exploded, so she had reason to be weary. 

"Fry, baby girl. This is Opal, she will give you information and you can give her information on file Alpha Romeo Tango when she reaches certain parameters." 

He smiled blithely as her gaze sharpened. She shouldn't really be surprised, knowing shit he wasn't meant to know was _his_ shtick after all. 

"Sure thing Boss."

"So, you know where he is now?"

"Yup."

"But you won't tell me?"

"Nope."

He gave her a look that was clearly 'how stupid do you think I am?' and she eventually nodded. 

"Fine. Just.. Tell me. Is he safe." 

He softened a little bit at that, he wasn't utterly heartless. He also didn't give shit away for free. If he gave up the address she'd just vanish and he'd lose his only scrap of hope of maybe finding Silver. 

"Yeah Ope, he's safe, happy even. I have him under watch." 

She tensed at that and he rocked onto the balls of his feet, smiling. She held herself in check and didn't move towards him. Which was likely wise. She backed up first, walking backwards, eyes on his until she turned the corner. He hiked himself back up into the vent to make his way out. Even with the base hit, he rarely walked around in corridors, preferring the in-between spaces. Where he could move unseen past and over walls. 

That was the nicest conversation he'd ever had with Opal that hadn't ended with one of them bleeding out. 

He had a few things to clear up, and then he could start putting his exit strategy into place. He needed to come back before Pepper was forced to declare him dead, plus, FRIDAY was starting to get insistent that he have human contact with people he wasn't killing. He didn't quite _'get'_ why it was so important. He had enough skills to manage most people he assumed, as soon as he worked out their expectations, what they wanted from him. They he would meet that. 

That seemed to be the sum of human interactions in his experience. He disliked not knowing what a person expected, it left him on edge

Being alive again would come with some pros and cons, he'd have a further reach, but more restrictions. Not many, he didn't plan on returning to Tony Stark's old life, no, he would make a new one. He wouldn't be at the beck and call of the Avengers, he wouldn't work to exhaustion. He planned on doing what he wanted. 

To do it, he needed to go back. 

Back to the Charnel House. 

Chances of success to being restored as Tony Stark were increased if they didn't connect him with the elusive Mr Gold. If they didn't know he'd been free for going on two years. So, he was going back to his cell, he figured it would be utterly boring. 


	3. Expectations

He packed up the last few parts of his warehouse ready for FRIDAY to load into vans and be moved to Stark Tower, hidden in a routine delivery in a few days time. When he finished, he slipped behind the wheel, he was heading to pretty much the last large Hydra base. He'd saved The Charnel House for last for more than a few reasons. 

There were a few assets still in residence, and he avoided them as he systematically worked his way through the base after locking down all of the exits. The base was a hard target, and he was mostly outfitted for it. He hadn't remade the armour, the idea of being encased felt claustrophobic, but he had a heavily adapted gauntlet with more than just a repulsor, and having his arms covered in metal was handy. 

Tech was a wonderful thing he had decided long ago. He only had the bare bones on right now, nothing like what he'd gotten used to working with the last few months because it would be destroyed on this mission. Yet he was slicing through the opposition like a knife through butter. He'd let his appearance go again, looking more bedraggled and starved. Although nothing like how he had been when he'd broken free. He'd use his magic to make people see worse. 

His long hair was loose too, he'd wanted to cut in so many times these years, but it was needed, unfortunately. The exit strategy wouldn't exactly work if he was well groomed. 

The base didn't have close to the amount of staff it had when he had lived here, but then Hydra's recruitment was suffering as of late. Given how he was cutting through them. Shockingly less people were willing to sign up for a dying organisation when the boogy man of Hydra was waiting in the wings. 

He kicked the reinforced door down of the dick who liked to call himself headmaster. 

"Make a call for me, Headmaster?" 

"Been waiting for your to come home Gold, realised you need me after all?" 

He smirked at the rage in his eyes as he slipped his knife into his belt and shouldered the gun to hop over the man's desk. Landing practically in the man's lap as he straddled him, smirking as he took hold of his jaw with his metal encased hand, making the man freeze. The Headmaster was always ranting about respect from his pupils you see. And his version of respect was complete submission. Eyes on the floor, no talking, fuck, even screaming in pain was enough to have him lashing your back until he saw white. He didn't give him enough time to think through what had happened, confused by his sudden proximity. It was easy to disarm him, he'd gotten over confident in his position. Slow. Soft. Easy. 

"Oh honey, I need you but not in the way you think. Make a call for me and maybe I'll do this again." 

He despised this man, but he'd need the reserves for his plan, even with this call it would take the authorities awhile to storm the place. So he ran his hand down his face, his fingers sparking gold. He knew his eyes were gold too and whilst the man was repulsive, he was powered, so he tasted _good._ He fed right to that edge that would make his target desperate for just a little bit more, just a tiny taste… and then he pulled back, amused by the sounds of panting and protests. The desperation and how he crumbled tasted almost as good. 

"Call the Authorities Headmaster, tell them Gold is tearing through your base, and I'll do that as much as you want." 

It was hilarious how easy it was really. Hilarious that he was begging for death too. He couldn't feed twice from a single person, too risky. Well, unless he wanted them to die. He was currently avoiding all skin contact as he made the call, fumbling in his rush as he leant back, stretching out whilst simultaneously putting himself on display. When he was done he leant forward to whisper, letting his skin brush which started the process up again. When his Magic recognised a person as food it was hard to not feed from them. Especially when he was still half starved. With Hydra winding down, there had been bigger and bigger gaps between missions. Less chance to feed. 

"Good boy, this is a much better death than you deserve. But you see, I need to be alive again, and this has the highest probability of success."

He forced his head back and bit down on the man's neck and pulled everything, every scrap of magic, life-force, energy, whatever it was and fed deeply. He stopped struggling long before he died and his eyes were grey and blank by the time he pulled back. He held onto him the whole time, even though it was killing him. At the end he turned it, switched the feeling to one from his memories, of the Headmasters favourite punishment. Still a better death than he had originally planned, which was to release the residents and throw the Headmaster into the fighting pits. The current residents probably would hesitate anyway. Green. 

He shed his gear, it set to completely self destruct and take the Headmaster with it as he made his way soundlessly to the barracks. He pulled himself up to move in the crawl spaces between rooms and in the ceiling. He knew every nook and vent, he could vanish and appear in different places without even the guards realising, being a good foot shorter than most of the other experiments, and blindfolded, had forced him to get creative in the years. 

Couldn't have any of the current occupants seeing him now could he. Not that any of the old guard were here it seemed. He'd fought against some, freed a few. Had them try to kill him after freeing them. Of the first generation there was him and Opal left alive for sure. She was in Australia at last check. They could tolerate each other being alive but being too close had both of them on edge. They'd tried to kill each other a few too many times. As for the others, well, he'd been the only one they regularly bound and kept blindfolded, others could potentially recognise him. 

Hydra never really stopped being worried about him escaping. So he couldn't just walk past the cells, he also didn't know how much the other groups had seen him.

Even when he was a good little asset, they never let their guard down. They'd always feared it and he could smell it on them. When he'd been conditioned post wipe he'd never understood it. Why he was treated like a flight risk. Amusingly it had been what gave him the idea he could escape when his friend died. Well, no one just died in The Charnel House. He'd been killed and with him gone, Silver missing, he'd snapped. Fractured. Shattered. 

He had posited the idea that if they were scared he'd escape, there must be a _reason_ for that fear. 

With nothing keeping the parts of his fractured mind together? To that he answered why not? Why not attack? Why not _hunt_? 

A previous iteration of himself had never foreseen that possibility, so his mind was silent when he asked why not. Why kill the targets when you can kill the handlers? Silence. 

There were several new people judging by their scents, seems Hydra were getting desperate for a way to combat him. He only vaguely recognised two and he'd never been put up against them. Different league. None of them smelled like him, or like magic in general. So they're either ran out of his and Silver's bone marrow and the other crap the weasel man used, or none of it was taking in the new recruits. The only other asset with magic still wasn't present and it didn't smell like he'd been returned at any point in the intervening two years. 

Silver had been a friend and rival, family. They'd sliced each other up enough, the scar that went from his hairline, down to his cheek on the left side of this face came from Silver, the blindfold saved his eye as the knife on caught on the tight, thick material after slicing his eyelid. He'd practically had to force him to do it. The knife had jumped before carrying down his cheek. He returned enough, even though it was superficial, it had been enough that they hadn't been accused of going light again. 

They'd snatched moments of genuine comfort with each other, but The Charnel House was not a place that you could promise not to hurt a friend. That could earn both of you one of Headmasters cruelest punishments.

He didn't even know what Silver looked like other than what Opal had mentioned, or his real name. They both had similar enough magic so they were never sent on missions together which had been the only time he'd been permitted to see. He couldn't exactly give FRIDAY search parameters by scent. 

All he knew was that his magic was as silver as his was gold because Silver told him so. He'd always wondered if their magic was the same as he knew Silvers magic came from his, but some secrets couldn't be shared in this place. It wasn't something they held against each other. It didn't stop them looking out for each other, he was glitter. It had been his job to protect him, teach him, train him, he _had_ to. He refused to teach Silver how to remember, so he fractured for him. 

Even if he hated the idea of him being here, part of him had hoped to see him. To explain why he hadn't found him as he ripped apart Hydra. There was a chance he was maybe still with a handler, but he was running out of Hydra and 2 years is a long time. His empty cell made something cold settle in his chest but he didn't understand it. Maybe he'd ask FRIDAY when he was home. Or Rhodey. FRIDAY had been helping him with project being human, but lately she'd been pushing for him to come home so Pepper and Rhodey could help. 

There also wasn't a cell without a person on either side. Which was problematic. When they were questioned they would probably mention an inmate suddenly appearing when the base was taken down. 

He shrugged, solitary it was. It was where he had spent most of his time anyway. The assets in residence wouldn't know he had escaped, the old guard were mostly dead and wouldn't cross him anyway, the ones here where mostly newbies or those he hadn't fought against. That he'd been in solitary for this long was believable, given how often Tony Stark escaped captivity. He was also the most checked out asset during his tenure which could explain why they didn't recognise him, Silver being second, Snipe or Yellow as they called him had been third. He had no idea what the order was now. Hadn't bothered looking when editing the documents. 

He dropped into the small dark cell and looked around. He was unhappy to be back here he thought. He hadn't expected the feeling to be so powerful. 

He was just starting to get the hang of that, emotions and having thoughts about if he liked things. He hated the chains as he put them on. He despised the blindfold as he put it in place. He lay back, controlling his breathing as memories surged up out of nowhere. Ones he had already remembered in the last 2 years and new ones. He couldn't get them to stop, everytime he fought free of one memory he was hurled into another. Pitched with the songs. Fractures. Breaks. Cracks. 

This hadn't been part of the plan. He didn't know why this was happening to him now. 

This was meant to be a boring wait until the base was ' _liberated'_ , then he would be taken to the states and detained until Pepper freed him. The plan had been easy and emotionless. Now he was sweating under the barrages and pain of memories, getting memories to match the scars he hadn't understood. The idea of being locked up after this had him sick with dread, tied up with his own memories. He didn't understand _why_ this was happening and that just added to it. Now and then he found it hard to breath, like everything was spinning out of control. 

If he had known this place would have triggered all these memories and feelings, he'd had devised an alternate exit strategy. This exit strategy had the highest probability for returning to his old life, if they knew he'd taken apart Hydra he'd likely find himself locked up or watched. Now he was too lost in the memories that he couldn't remember how to remove the cuffs. He was lucky he'd bound his magic down or this would have been for nothing. 

He wasn't sure how long it was by the time he heard the racket. The others bashing against their doors. Chains rattling, shouting for help. That would be the newbies. The old guard like himself would never trust people coming to free them at face value. Neither would B or C group at least. He'd fallen for a rescue once, that was all it took. He'd passed every freedom test after that, even when he'd been wiped. He put it into his core programming. 

He didn't need to act half feral or crazed when the door opened because the circumstances had hit him so much harder than he expected. 

So the door opened and reacted as he would have back then, he surged forward, snarled as his arms were wrenched back from the chains. He shook his head and practically snapped at the man as he heard the pop as his shoulder subluxed, the man fell back swearing. Not having expected the rabid man when he'd opened the cell. 

"Calm, calm down, it's OK, it's OK, I'm not Hydra. I'm here to help. Can I remove the blindfold. Do you want to see?"

He stumbled, because that was not the normal response. He backed up slightly but it wasn't like the cell was huge. The man seemed buoyed by his change and he had to remind himself that this was the plan, so he stayed frozen when he approached him again as he reminded himself that this was the plan. 

He wasn't sure if this guy was crazy brave or crazy stupid. 

He thought that he'd just be packed up and then he'd wait for Pepper to find him. He didn't know how to react to this strange bravery which had him flinching badly when hands touched his head. His mind automatically falling back on old patterns, someone offering to remove the blindfold in front of you was a trap. He couldn't force his tongue to form words and found himself shaking badly as warm fingers brushed across his forehead and it was ridiculous and bizarre how much that relaxed him. The man seemed to take it as a good sign and started slowly unfastening the tight blindfold that was cutting into his face. 

"Shh shh, it's okay. Fuck, who can do this to another person, how long have you had this on? You're oka- holy fuck." 

He blinked up, seeing an extremely young man in a tactical vest, looking at him in shock, as if this was the worst thing he'd ever seen. But then he looked 12, he wondered if this was his first mission. His voice was hoarse, either from underuse or screaming during the flashbacks, he's not sure, the only person he really speaks to is FRIDAY and she never complained. 

“Always, they… never take it off."

" Holy shit. You're Tony Stark."

"I am.. I think. They.. Did something to my memories.." 

"You're okay now we'll get you safe." 

He tried not to snort at that, safety was a relative concept that didn't exist. The only thing that mattered was being stronger than those who would hurt you. 

The strange man was oddly… comforting as he looked into removing the cuffs. What he wanted was clear, it was easy to supply and that relaxed him somewhat. He couldn't help slumping towards the kind man. His handlers would probably crow at his obedience, well. If he hadn't slaughtered every single one of them. Every Hydra operative even peripherally part of his tenure at Hydra had died by his hand, blade or magic. There had been a lot. 

He removed the cuffs with a degree of gentleness that he honestly hadn't thought possible, not tearing the skin or bruising him at all. He didn't even put any new cuffs on him, just let him sit there unrestrained even though he knew he had been a captive of Hydra for nearly 7 years. If it hadn't been his plan to be taken in, that would have been a perfect time to free himself.

The man must have picked up on his strange behaviour too, as even though he vanished for a few seconds. Which had for some reason, l rendered him useless, under a flashback until he talked him back to reality. He didn't understand why this place was affecting him so, he wished he knew _why_ it was happening. When he returned with an apple and water, he talked him back around and then stayed with him. He didn't know him, not personally. So why was he doing it?

He didn't understand his own reactions and the man noticed his confusion at the kindness he offered. For some reason it made him look sad. He would have to be more careful with his reactions. 

Being back in The Charnel House, he felt as raw as he did when he first escaped somehow. Worse even, as he didn't have all these weird emotions last time. He hadn't taken that into account. 

"Uh, what's your name?" 

"Maxwell." 

"Th.. Thank you?" 

"It's no problem, anyone would have done the same. Don't tell anyone, but I contacted your family, they're probably raining down hell to see you and get you out of the containment facility." 

He didn't have to fake the distaste and shaking like he thought he would at the idea of the containment facility. He knew it was coming and had planned for it, but he'd planned for The Charnel House. Fuck, what the fuck was wrong with him? 

He vowed that after this, no one would ever hold him captive again. Even for a mission. 

Maxwell was forced to leave him eventually and he pretended that it didn't crush him. He'd known the guy for 10 minutes for fucks sake. 

He was allowed to shower, under armed guard. Which was ridiculous. 

It wasn't something that bothered him really. He had read enough about his previous iteration to think that it probably wouldn't have bothered him much before his stint as a Hydra puppet, but bathing facilitates in The Charnel House? They were much worse than this. He had hot water and soap and was mostly alone. Plus, he could kill the guard before he even got the gun up if he wanted. A single guard wasn't exactly a fair match. 

He was then straight jacketed by a strangely guilty looking man who left it pretty loose. He been thankful to that because he didn't think he'd tolerate the claustrophobia if it had been tightened properly, it was already pretty bad. It was loose enough that he could get out of it with minium subluxations. He was then put in a small cell, the walls where white, but it still felt like the solitary confinement cell, enough to keep him in and out of flashbacks. He was even bolted to the floor although he suspected he could break it if he tried. He couldn't stop his brain from calculating exit routes but he didn't utilise them. 

Therapists came by, and men in suits asking him about missions. He spoke about The Charnel House. The therapist fainted and he didn't know why. One of the suits threw up, the other looked upset and had him brought food. After that, he sat next to him inside the cell and spoke about random things that had nothing to do with his missions. Asking him what he liked. He said he hadn't known at first, but after his third visit, he'd told him he likes soft things just so he stopped looking so depressed. 

He didn't like it. There were too many different people and he didn't know what each of them wanted. He didn't know the penalty for getting it wrong. He missed his warehouse. 

When he came back from the shower that day his mattress had changed and he had a pillow. He'd stared at it for a while before deciding it wasn't a trick and lying down. The suit seemed happy at least, which was important. He had expected more interrogation but for some reason they didn't ask many questions of him after the pillow incident, when he'd thought he was coming to take it back. He'd been confused and the agent was then very adamant he keep the pillow. Generally, people were extremely confusing he decided, FRIDAY was better, she told he exactly what was expected of him. 

Pepper arrived first, 4 showers, so 4 days. She looked different than the photo FRIDAY had shown him. She seemed more vibrant with her red hair tied up, swishing back and forth as she had her hand up to her mouth. Eyes full of tears. 

"Red hair."

"Tony! Oh my God, we thought, we thought you were really gone this time. Do.. Do you remember me? They said they used the.. chair on you." 

Again, he didn't have to fake the flinch, which was annoying as in the months he had spent with FRIDAY he thought he was over this. He thought back to how he'd been when he first escaped and mimicked that. He could not appear to have too many memories. 

" I remember red hair. Always red hair, even after the wipes.." 

"Tony.." 

"How long do I have to stay here?" 

"Not long. Me and Jim are working on it, do you remember Jim? Rhodey?" 

He thought about the few memories he'd gotten back and what he had when he'd first escaped. Reminding himself that he couldn't show too many older memories, not whilst he was being recorded. 

"I remember something, a voice? I think that's him? Comforting." 

"Oh Tony." 

He could feel her fervent desire to have him free and he trusted her to move hell and earth until that was done. He'd re-entered his file into The Charnel House and duplicated events to cover the last 2 years, plus removing all traces of his magic. He expected that she and Rhodey would have read it to know what they were inviting into their lives, and would use it to hopefully speed up getting him out of here. Based on The Soldiers case, it was decided that because of the chair and conditioning, they could not prosecute anything done on his missions. His file was quite similar. He didn't want to end up with a tracking bracelet however which was why he was behaving. As unpleasant as this was. 

He didn't sleep. Even when the doctors started to get concerned and forced zopiclone down his throat. Even when they attached him to an IV, he forced himself to remain awake. 

When someone finally asked him why he wouldn't sleep, it sped things along. He'd thought it had been obvious that he wouldn't sleep. He was being recorded and watched and surrounded by unknown people? There was no Silver to watch his back. Who would sleep here? 

He'd been awake for nine shower, so nine days when Rhodey had visited to see him forcing himself to stay awake by standing, whilst hooked up to an IV of gods knows what. The drugs were hard to fight through, but he would not fall asleep here, if that meant bashing his head against a wall, then so be it. 

His trial was moved up and he was permitted to stay at Stark Tower until then. The suit had to visit once a day, he was OK with this, the suit was tolerable. He understood, mostly, what he wanted from him and the parameters were set. Even if they didn't make sense. 

He guessed no one wanted to present Tony Stark to the world suffering from severe sleep deprivation after rescuing him from the clutches of Hydra, the suit had removed the jacket to transport him, again, the press would crucify them if they saw it. The suit stared at his arm the entire trip where he'd been branded, apparently having not seen it before, but he didn't understand the significance or understand _why_. He assumed the others bore similar marks. He hated this. 

He didn't sleep when he got back to the tower, first he had to action all the security changes and stash his equipment that FRIDAY had brought over in his lab. Rhodey and Pepper didn't seem to know what to do with him as he wandered around the penthouse checking security, talking quietly to FRIDAY. They spoke to the agent, who presented him with a blanket and pillow, much to Pepper's confusion, before leaving. It was strange but very soft and he could lie on it.

When he had gone, Rhodey came over to him and hugged him as if he might vanish and Pepper couldn't stop looking at him. 

Eventually they pulled him towards the bed and the exhaustion had him collapsing on the extremely soft bed. This was nothing like the ones he'd had when he was hunting Hydra. So finally, he gave in to the urge, in between the two of them as they refused anything else. Not wanting to leave him alone. They were from before the fractures, parts of them were carried in the code, his mind recognised them as safe to sleep near. 

"Don't… Don't wake me if I'm having a nightmare. I.. They didn't put it in the file but I have abilities now." 

They both looked at him confused, probably because he'd edited his magic out of everything so the people rescuing him wouldn't think he was Mr Gold. He left the experimentation in, just removed all magic references. 

"What do you mean Tones?" 

"FRIDAY tells me I can trust you two. That if I show you something, you'll tell no one?" 

"Of course Tony." 

He raised his hand and the gold sparked, they two tendrils wrapped around his fingers and wrist.

"Shit. Tones, your him aren't you? But how?! He's been taking apart Hydra for _years_." 

"Exit strategy. Highest chance of success of being reinstated as my old myself if the world believes me and Mr Gold are not the same person. Unforseen issues came up, but parameters were set." 

"You both will have to catch me up on this, especially if you've been free for two years! But right now. Tony, you have to sleep. Your secrets are always safe with me."

She pulled his head down against her and after a bare second, Rhodes wrapped around him. Cocooning him in warmth, home, and safety. With FRIDAY watching over, he let himself sleep. 

He woke up screaming, his voice horse enough that he'd been screaming for a long time. His panic heightened when he felt a blanket over his legs, he immediately started to free himself from what was binding his legs when he left movement to his left. 

He froze, waiting for the attack to come as his fingers slowly moved beneath his pillow. Wrapping around the hilt of the blade he had hidden there. 

An attack didn't come, so when the person moved again, he moved. 

His teeth bared as he had the blade to the man's neck, his hand raised with magic flaring at his hand and his eyes, pinning the man to the bed. He finally heard what the man was saying what the blood stopped rushing. 

"Tones! Tones, it's me, it's Rhodey!" 

"Rhodey?" 

He blinked as memories flooded back. He wasn't in The Charnel House. This wasn't a test. 

"This… this isn't a test?" 

"No Tones, you're home. You're home."

He threw himself backwards off the bed, dropping the knife as if it was burning and jumping to perch on a dresser, crouching down to make a small target of himself as he looked around the room. Pepper was in the doorway and she looked terrified. Rhodey was watching him and he looked in pain. 

"Did.. Did I hurt you?" 

"No Tones, just startled me. Is there anything we can do to help you when you wake up?" 

He was perfectly still, not giving anything away as he ran his mind through the morning. 

"The blanket." 

"The blanket?" 

"I don't sleep with one. It tangles your legs when you're attacked in the night." 

Pepper makes a choked sound at that, her hand over her mouth again, he tilted his head in confusion. Night reaction tests were noted in the file. 

"I assumed you read my file." 

"No Tones, we wanted you to tell us when you're ready." 

He blinked in confusion because that was strange, wasn't it? Didn't they want to know who they invited into their home? Their bed? Why would they do that without knowing what he was capable off? 

"Why?" 

"Because it happened to you, we want to give you time. If there is anything that we can help you with, you tell me. Now, do you want to come down from the dresser?" 

"I.. I'll make tea."

He silently stepped down, feeling a little awkward. Apart from food or killing, he hadn't exactly interacted with anyone but FRIDAY. People were confusing, he needed to devise their expectations. 

"Why don't you come over here and you can tell me anything you think I should know." 

He padded silently over and sat down just as quiet as Rhodey watched him. He knew the man was impressed but wasn't sure why. 

"I'm not baseline human any more." 

"I guessed that, you look like you did in your twenties and you jumped on top on a 4 foot high dresser, backwards. You're utterly silent when you move, and that's not counting the magic." 

He nodded, figuring that was a pretty fair assessment. 

"I don't remember it all, but they experimented on all of us in The Charnel House. The Pit was where the bulk of the fighting went on. I was blindfolded sometime after initiation. I saw too much. "

"Fuck man. Experimentation? "

He tugged the long sleeves over his hands, finding the action comforting but not understanding why. Seemed to be a pattern lately, him doing things without him understanding _why_. It got worse the longer he had been free, longer without the chair. Longer he was put together. He didn't know if this was better. 

"The Black Cells came first because they're by the White room where they change you. But you still went back after they moved to the Barracks. In The White room, people went in and didn't come back. Or they came back different."

"How did you know, as you were, you know, blindfolded?"

"People smell different. Sometimes part of their scent changed but I could always recognise someone I'd logged. Me and Snipe spent the most time in the white room, Silver was close, but he had trouble and they didn't want to lose him. He nearly died once during routine testing. I've looked through my file, they tested a number of serums derived from Barnes and Rogers and the Maximoffs. Some others to, but I couldn't find data on it."

The weasel didn't include where most of his formulas came from. He'd tried to work it out, but his files were jibberish, no code he could see. 

"They gave us transfusions of each others blood often, bone marrow too. Sometimes it was just seeing what we could take. Rooting around, weighing our organs. I don't know why, the Weasel man only cared about the data."

Rhodey had paled considerably and was shaking, which he found strange. That was pretty much a normal day in The Charnel House and he was one of the oldest _students_. He had a year on Snipe, one of the last of group A and he died, and then he'd shattered. 

"Are you okay?"

"Fuck, Tones, you're asking me if I'm okay after telling me that?" 

"You paled and are shaking. That was routine." 

He shrugged and that didn't help much, not at all. In fact he looked worse. 

"Okay, what can we do for you?" 

"No orders. Food? I need food. My memories are coming back, but it's better when I'm not hungry. I need parameters, what is expected." 

"Sure! We can do that! Pepper is probably making breakfast now.. And we are just happy to have you home Tones." 

He would work out their parameters soon. Everyone expected something, the sooner he knew what, the sooner he could adapt. 

"That's .. I need more than solid food." 

"What?" 

"FRIDAY calls me a psychic vampire, whatever that means, I won't kill, but.. I'm hungry. I also can't feed off someone twice, unless you want them dead, then it's fine." 

Rhodey blinked at him a few times before pulling his phone out. He had handled that surprisingly well, FRIDAY had expected resistance from Pepper but that Rhodey was quick to adapt to anything apparently. 

"I have an idea, why don't you get dressed and I'll tell Pepper." 

The clothes in the wardrobe didn't fit him. He hadn't changed in height he had noticed, but the first shirt had gotten stuck on his arms and he'd tore it off, not liking the feeling. T-shirts worked better, even though they were quite tight and stretched out. There were loose loungewear trousers that were similar. 

"FRIDAY, I need new clothes." 

"Pepper has a person coming today to organise a new suit for the court appearance and press conference. I've ordered new items for you that should be here today." 

"FRIDAY, what do they want me to do?" 

"I don't think they want you for a purpose Boss, they're your family, they're happy to have you here." 

"That doesn't make sense, people want things. Supplying means safer outcomes." 

"Just give them a chance Boss, you do remember them, don't you." 

"Yes. The previous iteration coded them into the first fractures. He's safety and comfort, she's care and constant. But now they are people and I liked those fractures. I don't want to lose them. So I need parameters." 

"Why don't you start by sitting down to eat breakfast." 

"These are acceptable parameters." 

With that he made his was to the kitchen, the pair were close, whispering and they didn't hear him enter or sit down. He cleared his throat and they jumped apart. 

"You need a bell my man, and holy fuck you look buffer than Thor."

"You do not need to hide your relationship from me, you seem happy. I don't remember Thor but FRIDAY informed me of him." 

He looked very strange, fought with an odd weapon and had a cape. Which he thought would impede fighting and looked amusing. 

"Ah, okay, we just didn't want to dump it on you, not on your first day home, we didn't mean to hide it Tony.." 

Pepper put a plate stacked with food in front of him that he immediately pulled closer and started making short work of before he realised they were staring at him again. He needed to work on his ability to appear like a normal human for extended periods of time. They also were trying not to look at his arm, which meant he probably needed to wear longer sleeves, as it seemed to upset people. 

This was exhausting compared to the warehouse. 

"So what's this about hiring an escort?" 

Pepper did not look impressed with the idea, he was too hungry to feel bad about it. If Rhodey could bring him food, that was the important factor. Staying awake in the facility had depleted his reserves. 

"I'm hungry, haven't eaten in so long, will get dangerous if I don't eat soon." 

"Your eating now?"

"It's different eating." 

"Well, one will be here in half an hour." 

"Should I be concerned that my boyfriend knows an escort service?" 

"It's not for me, it's not for humans at all actually. One of the inhumans I helped get on her feet last year, is kind of a succubus? It turns out there is a whole service that helps non-human people like that who have _different dietary requirements_. So the human population doesn't twig basically." 

"Huh." 

"She's a very gay, 20 year old succubus, that I have no interest in. And, it's really handy, because otherwise we'd have no idea what to do with this." 

Rhodey just gestured vaguely at him and he took the distraction to swipe food from his plate without him noticing. This food was better than the government facility food. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony - "I have 100% got this being human crap."
> 
> Also Tony - "WTF. Why is this happening?!"


	4. Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some minor OCs I got attached to, Tony needed adequate sustenance before a certain Soldier comes around, but I try to keep OCs ar a minimum as I know they are usually not well loved, I just kinda like Dax, he's fun.
> 
> Also, Silver got so much attention (there is more of him in this fic) that I ended up writing a short story about him. It's nearly finished, 😂. So, this verse will go on with the daily updates for a bit longer, which in sure will make some people happy!
> 
> Also I just realised its Tuesday, so, eep *flees to Deaths Merchant.*

Pepper still didn't look pleased, but she seemed happy when he had seconds, which was good. It was always good to know what pleased the people around him, made him safer. Made things easier to manage when he knew. Rhodey seemed to be highly amused by the situation. 

He knew the man was in the lift before it opened, he wasn't human, he was putting off vibes that had him feeling seriously hungry. Nothing compared to his Soldier, who still occasionally popped into his mind, even now after all this time. Which he thought was fairly ridiculous and proved he was dangerous. 

This person though, they were definitely interesting, he still wouldn't trust a second feeding, unless he  _ wanted _ to kill the man, but he definitely was not human. 

When he exited the elevator he noticed a definite orange hue to his eyes, that seemed to reflect light like cats eyes. That told him that he likely wasn't baseline human without even feeling his energy. There was.. so much of it. He was like 6 humans in one incredibly delicious place. 

He locked eyes with him as he stepped off of the elevator and everything narrowed down. 

"Hey there, I'm Dax." 

"Hey, I know you guys are good with NDRs but this will be a littl-" 

"People I feed from don't remember who I am, unless I want them to." 

"This is so strange…" 

Pepper looked baffled as Rhodey turned to the man who still hadn't broken eye contact with him. He could see Pepper moving out the corner of his eye but his world was narrowing down very fast which was definitely strange as he didn't remember something like this happening before, although, there was that time he'd spent 3 weeks in solitary. This still felt different. 

This wasn't the first time he'd neglected that side of himself to near starvation, but now he was feeling it more, could feel the ache and pain, the dragging exhaustion near painfully when he'd been repressing it before. Could feel that scrabbling hunger inside clawing at him, pushing him. Hydra were pretty good at teaching you to carry on as normal whilst starving to death. Maybe he  _ had _ gotten soft in the last 2 years. 

"Are you alright with that?" 

Rhodey asked, looking between them with a slightly perplexed look on his face. 

“Sure am, why don't we take this elsewhere."

Tony was too hungry to argue, his thoughts were muddled and everything was a little hazy as the man approached, Tony stepped into his space even though he didn't actually remember leaving the breakfast bar. Sticking his nose into his neck because he smelled good. Someone was talking but he didn't hear it, but then he moved which had Tony whining slightly. 

"You sure got beautiful gold eyes sugar, but unless you're wanting to give your friends a show, we should move this." 

He had to give him credit, they must have dealt with something like him before. Most people wouldn't be able to  _ think _ right now, let alone  _ talk _ . Not after he had skin contact like that. Hell he practically couldn't think or talk right now and he was pretty much gone as he followed the 'nice scent' whereever he wanted to go until he heard a door close. 

"What do you need to do to eat sweety, you feel starved." 

He seemed concerned and somewhere between scolding him and he didn't have the ability to explain why he was starving or the fact that he could normally function quite well at that level. Well, until someone like this walked up to him apparently. Instead he simply moved fast until he had the man beneath him on the bed, he must have his own magic somehow, as that had his skin shining white and he felt hands guiding him back to his neck. So he stopped holding it back and felt the gold spark and burst from his hands as he bit down on his neck. 

He wasn't sure how long he spent with the nice scent, or if he had a name other than 'nice scent'. He probably did, might have even told him, but all he could think was warm and sweet scent. He could wrap himself in it and definitely didn't remember a name. He was more caught up on  _ food _ and finally getting a full meal rather than a taste or draining someone quickly as a snack. This was definitely  _ different _ . Good different. 

He left him with the memory gold eyes and that he likely had connect it to 'Mr Gold'. He couldn't believe that damned name had stuck, it had only been meant for one person originally. Now it had spread, there wasn't much use fighting it. Plus the reputation he'd built up taking out Hydra was handy. 

Not that he was Tony Stark either. He didn't quite  _ feel _ like Tony Stark or Mr Gold but both worked in a way. They were like pieces of him with different reputations that he could use when he needed them.

He didn't manipulate memories like Wanda did, he couldn't get into people's minds and make them not see him, he just had a confusion spell, obfuscation would be more accurate, on himself so to speak. It just stopped people committing the memories from short into long term regarding his identity. It interfered with people's ability to match his face in person with that of Tony Stark unless he removed the spell. The only ones that stuck where his eyes and the colour gold because they always burned through for some reason. He'd tried to tweak it, but no matter how weak or strong he layered the magic, the gold remained. Silver had had the same problem. 

That he wouldn't tell anyone he came here seemed to be a given anyway, he could feel it when he read his desires. But it wasn't in his nature to trust, especially strangers, he had a feeling that something like this… nice scent wouldn't pass on as he knew people like him. It made him feel better in a way, that there were other people out there like him. 

"It's a shame I can't feed from you again." 

"Why's that honey?" 

"Most people die when I feed from them twice, even if there's weeks, months apart." 

"Hmm, that's probably baseline humans, they don't replenish like we do. I'd need a while, especially with you having been starved, but I can come back. I hope I don't find you on the edge again, that's dangerous. I'll teach you to check if you can feed off a person twice, plus, I  _ want _ to come back." 

They spoke a little about others with abilities like his until he had to head off, he lay on the bed, happy warm and sated for a while. Eventually FRIDAY poked him into dressing to speak to Rhodey and Pepper as they were hovering awkwardly in the kitchen apparently. 

Having just fed deeply, he wasn't holding himself as rigidly, smiling as he slunk back to the breakfast table. Rhodey slid a cup of coffee to him, he looked at it, not remembering if he'd drank coffee before. It hadn't been something he required due to the serums over the last two years. It did smell nice though so he tried it. Pepper was slightly flushed and looking everywhere but him, Rhodey looked highly amused. 

"So. That just happened. Man, you need to get soundproofing on your room." 

"FRIDAY can you get the room sound proofed? Uh, thank you, I was really close to starving apparently and hadn't noticed." 

"Least the guy left happy, ay Pep?" 

"Jim, I will stab you with a fork if you don't shut up." 

He felt better about the court and the press conference now he wasn't on edge. FRIDAY could help him with the conference too. He had people now, and that felt good. Pepper had informed him that the Avengers were out of town and as such she was removing all of his stuff from the workshop to the tower. After this was complete, he could start fleshing of the tentative plans he had started with FRIDAY. 

"You seem better now?" 

"I usually take sips what I'm fighting, but I couldn't feed when I was locked in The Charnel House or that government building. Imagine going 14 days without food." 

"So this is.. Uh.. Something you are going to need to do regularly?" 

He nodded, he wasn't sure why, but Pepper didn't seem to like the idea where as Rhodey found the whole situation amusing. He really had peculiar friends. 

"So, Jim told me you wanted your workshop moved from the Compound, I'm guessing you don't want to go and see them?" 

He frowned, he assumed that The Widow had informed them of the video she had located. But now he was not so sure. He should definitely stop assuming things he decided. 

"You two don't know?"

"Don't know what?" 

"How I ended up with Hydra." 

"Not a clue man, all we had was video of you leaving the raft and FRIDAY couldn't tell us anything else." 

"FRIDAY, play the video from the bunker whilst I have a shower." 

He hopped up and headed back to his room, he wasn't sure why exactly, but he didn't want to watch the video again. He opened one of the boxes that had arrived whilst he was drinking the last of his coffee, which he decided he very much enjoyed, took out some clothes and headed into the shower. 

The shower was huge, and  _ good _ . Much better than the government facility or the ones he'd had when he lived in the warehouse. 

The government holding facility had at least fed him well, he thought as he took stock of himself in the mirror. He was still lean, hard muscles, a regular starvation diet and constant training showed. 

He was paler than images he had found if himself online, but that wasn't shocking as he'd spent most of his time away from the sun for 7 years, most of his missions were done during the night, the lack of light not really being a factor for him. 

He was littered with scars. The serum healed a lot without scarring, but if an injury was bad enough, it scarred. Some of his scars were lines next to each other, which had been experimentation on his healing ability, all of them had that. It was when they would keep wounds open, not let him heal to see how it reacted. 

Even the huge scars weren't too bad, they were flat, smooth and kind of silvery. He had several on his face and neck too. His back and left leg where the worst visually speaking so he figured it would be best to hide that from Pepper and Rhodey. There were a number of bullet wounds, but they rarely scarred so it was only large calibre hits. Mostly it was from the pit knife fights. 

He had returned his beard to what it was meant to look like using a picture and FRIDAY for guidance but he couldn't cut his hair without help. 

Pepper slammed into him when he exited the bedroom and he was happy that he'd fed deeply as now he was fully awake, she smelled very nice and he didn't want to accidentally slip up. He tried hugging back, it wasn't exactly something he'd done in the last 7 years, but he thought he did it right. Rhodey added himself to the hug. Pepper spoke first. 

"I'm going to kill him." 

"Why?" 

"Because it's his fault this happened to you and in 7 years, 7 fucking years Tones, the man never  _ once _ said he saw you in Siberia. We could have picked you up, you never would have…" 

"I'm going to make him pay." 

"It would be best to keep me removed from him, killing the Captain would be problematic. I have plans.." 

He needed more practice interacting with people he realised, not sure how to put forward what he meant, he hadn't realised this was an issue and it annoyed him that it was. Maybe FRIDAY could increase lessons on how to act like a person and less like a weapon. Plus, if he went anywhere near Rogers, he couldn't be completely sure he wouldn't kill him. That would make his return rocky. He generally had little planned with Rogers. Willing to let him be if he let him be. 

Rhodey frowned but nodded and Pepper looked like a woman on a mission. He could feel Rhodey's desire to make the man suffer, and find it avoiding, he wasn't sure how he felt about the super soldier. Part of him wanted to ruin him, part of him wanted to be stay very, very far away. 

He'd have to put forward some of his ideas over the next few weeks and see where they stand on certain issues. He knew a lot of his ideas were in the morally grey section because FRIDAY had told him so, a good portion were apparently illegal, but he found the restrictions on being  _ good, _ annoying. He didn't know how to broach this however. Although they wanted to kill someone, so maybe it would be okay. 

He noticed Pepper staring at his arm again. 

"Do you want me to cover it up?" 

"What? Oh, Tony no. You do what makes you comfortable." 

"But you look sad when you see it." 

"That's because the idea of my friend being branded and marked like that makes me wish I still had Extremis so I could fire up and punch Roger's in his stupid face." 

"If you want, I can give you that. You too, it would cure your spinal injury." 

Rhodey blinked at him in confusion whilst Pepper was smiling slightly, a complete flip to his food issue. 

"Ur, what now?"

“FRIDAY showed me the formula, so I fixed it. You'll age like me and heal faster. I can add the fire back too if you want."

"Huh, let's table that and focus on your court case, OK?"

He shrugged, that was fine by him. 

  
  
  


The next several days flew by. The court case went surprisingly well. Rogers had kicked up such a huge fuss about the cruelty of forcing Barnes to recount every mission that they had declared he didn't have to. He ended up picking a few missions to go over, ones that no one had linked to Mr Gold. 

The precedent was probably set because most of Barnes cases were old and Captain America, even disgraced, could get an annoying amount of the public behind him for a cause. Ross had likely pushed things along too, so he could show the world he had the Avengers collared. They also probably hadn't expected to be dealing with another brainwashed hydra assassin. Now there were 16 of them in different degrees of conditioning and experimentation. 

Most were runaways, some had actually been volunteers. But Tony… Well. He was an extremely high profile  _ media darling _ . Which was odd as he thought the media hated him when he'd researched himself. Turned out having him and his inventions vanish for 7 years had caused several fields he was heavily involved in grind to an abject halt barring the stuff Pepper pulled from his 'I'm bored' server. So, the media that had spent his life slating him, had spent 7 years mourning and eulogising him, and now he was back, having been tortured for 7 years, yet standing strong and talking about helping people. 

Now his missions were more recent, but they couldn't really make different rules for brainwashed assassins, that smacked of favouritism to Captain America. Plus, the second he was discovered he cooperated completely and didn't even ask to leave when it was clear the containment facility was 'triggering as fuck' as Rhodey called it. Plus, Hydra had fallen and it was figured that most (all) of the people who could be prosecuted from Tony's testimonials were dead. 

It wasn't long before he was trying to be Tony Stark in front of the media again with a press conference. He had decided not to completely act the part, that wasn't him and if he started when would he ever be able to stop. So, he added some smiles, that he was sure had a little too much bite, but no one called him on it. When he walked towards the stage and the reporters surged forward, it took all of his self control not to pull a weapon. He was still getting used to dealing with humans again. Not rabid reporters. 

He was starting to like who he was, he was trying to call himself Tony in his head now and then, but he kept forgetting. He hadn't really had a name, other than Gold and that was for Silver, his memories before Siberia still felt somewhat.. detached. 

Tony wasn't a bad name though. Pepper smiled when she said it. Happy hugged him the first time he'd said it to him. Rhodey looked so pleased to have him back and that was part of  _ Tones _ too. The more people who cared for him said it. The better he felt. It also helped a lot that Mr Nice Scent was in the penthouse making coffee after the press conference and Pepper didn't say a word. 

Not only did he learn to check if it was safe to feed from a person twice, finding out it was possible was great. Although apparently he was different from the others who fed of energy, being an experiment rather than an actual race he assumed. So it took a lot longer for people to replenish, which was why humans were annoyingly easy to kill. Dax however was happy to visit him when he could. It was good, not starving. 

The one annoying thing that came from the press conference was the Avengers knowing that he was alive. Somehow, none of them had made the connection as to who he was, despite the fact he'd been leaving them breadcrumbs for actual years. Rogers has taken to contacting him literally every damned day, although he had no idea why. He had watched the video of Siberia, Rogers was the one who left without looking back. 

Thankfully, FRIDAY fielded them and just ran a tally in the penthouse of how many times he had called. It was easy to ignore, or make bets on. 

It also turned out that his friends didn't mind so much when he snuck out one day on his jet to start looking into things and ended up running into a friend and then having a little fun in exchange for a favour. Pepper had come into the penthouse when he was washing blood off his hands. She'd took one look at his shirt and said something he had honestly not expected. 

"Pass that over so I can get the blood out before it stains." 

She vanished into the kitchen and returned with an unmarked bottle, which seemed to be her own concoction for getting blood out of clothes. He stood in the bathroom, wiping his chest clean as she worked on his shirt. Watching as she calmly worked the shirt clean as if it were the most normal thing in the world. 

"So, was this a Hydra thing?"

"No." 

"So, it's some kind of mob thing?“

He was amused how quickly she got to that answer. But then FRIDAY has warned him about how competent Pepper was and how good she was at predicting the unpredictable. 

"Yes."

"Me and Jim are with you all the way. If you need help, just ask. Okay? "

"Okay?"

He'd been quite amused by the whole thing really, he didn't know how they'd receive it as they were good people. He wasn't a good person anymore, there weren certain things inside him now. Like an itch that could only be reached in certain ways. It had been easy taking down Hydra, but then he'd started to run out of Hydra. He'd felt restless. 

He'd run into Marcone several months ago, when he was hunting down Arbus Finch, a handler that had been dodging him for a while. Turned out he was a business partner of Marcone, who had walked in on Tony with his knife in the man's neck. Luckily, Marcone hated the man and had been trying to find a way to kill him without it landing on his doorstep for months. 

So, he hadn't said anything, just raised an eyebrow. He'd read Marcone easily and as such. Didn't bother lying. They'd ended up having coffee in Arbus' kitchen. They'd met a few more times since and they'd struck up a tentative partnership of sorts whilst he'd been hunting Hydra and cleaning house. They'd started planning for what they'd could do when he came back to the world of the living, splitting up different sectors. Marcone was covetous of his ability and Tony was quite happy to lend his services, Marcone was good when it came to well balanced deals after he realised how badly he took to the idea of being given orders. They found their goals and temperament aligned quite well after some false starts. 

Marcone sent him a box of chocolates to thank him a day later as well as his IOU, and as Pepper had cleaned the blood of his shirt, he'd split the chocolates with her. When Pepper met Marcone a week later, they'd hit it off quite well, the two of them had the quiet strength that could probably take over a planet. Rhodey wasn't sure how he felt about Tony introducing career criminals and mob bosses to his girlfriend but has shrugged in a "what can ya do." kind of way which really hammered home the fact he has very strange friends. 

The fact they barely blinked at the fact he'd spent two years slaughtering his way through Hydra should have told him that really. He liked it. 

It turned out that Marcone owned the service Dax worked for, which had been a serious case of small world one day when Marcone arrived as the other man was leaving. He had ended up telling Marcone about the aspect of his ability that meant he could use peoples energy to add to his Magic, without mentioning that he needed it or would probably go insane. As much as Marcone is a friend, he isn't going to hand the man one of his primary weaknesses on a golden platter. 

Plus, starving him is generally, always going to be more detrimental for the idiot doing it, it was lucky really that he hadn't let Hydra discover it. They didn't go to lengths to keep him out of physical contact with other experiments, so he had never really tipped into truly dangerous territory. 

After a certain point he won't have the ability to hold back and that's when he doesn't need touch to ensnare someone. Just vague proximity is enough. Dax had been helping him find out more about that ability, and he'd been learning to control at a rather fast pace. But then he had had rather intensive training.

Rhodey usually scowled whenever he called it training and he didn't understand why. 

Marcone however came up with the idea of a nightclub. Which after he thought about it, was a very good idea. Like inviting all the fish into a barrel for shooting, and it meant he could test out Dax's idea of passive feeding. It wouldn't do as a meal, but it could tide him over if he was in a bad spot. 

He started drawing up the plans for a place of his own, but in the meantime decided to test the theory out. He had meetings set for things on both sides of the law. Laws he had an interest in getting removed or added, trade deals in different countries, he was back to changing the Accords to. Schmoozing with boring old people. He made sure to include breaks, uninterested in only working.

They were being driven by Happy and Rhodey was starting to freak out a little bit as they got closer to their destination. 

"Pep is going to kill me." 

"No she won't." 

"Oh, yes she will." 

"No she won't because I asked her first." 

"And she said yes?" 

"Yeah, she even picked the destination and everything." 

"Huh." 

"I'll keep you safe Rhodey. I'll eat anyone who tries to hit on you if you lurk around me, but if you get bored, feel free to duck out."

"I'm pretty sure I'm too old for this shit. And if you get caught up with food I'll lurk and keep myself occupied somehow." 

Tony tilted his head and had an idea. 

"Give me your hand." 

That Rhodey held his arm out without a second of hesitation warmed something inside himself. He was finally getting a hang on feeling thing, well. Most of the time. Occasionally, something would still shock or confuse him, but generally he thought he was doing well and he could hide it well enough when he wasn't. Rhodey and Pepper were practically living in the penthouse with him at the moment, so he was getting to spend a lot of time with them. 

Because of Rhodey's injury, he had received an honourable discharge, it had taken 3 years before he had been able to take a step and now he could walk around and have the injury barely be noticeable. He was in pain, however, which was why he was working on him and Pepper having Extremis. He'd wear them down, he could feel it in their desires. Luckily he could be a patient hunter if the situation called for it. 

If they wanted to go public they could blame it on a lab accident of an unknown scientist they were visiting or something. Pepper would work out a story and it meant his friends wouldn't age so quickly. 

He sparked his magic and looped it around his wrist, instead of pulling from him, he reversed it, just a little bit. Enough to erase his pain and give him a little bit of energy. 

"Wow, what was that?" 

"I just reversed the energy draw and gave you a little bit, did it relieve the pain?" 

"Yeah, wait, how did you know I was in pain? Also, I think I understand why Dax keeps coming back if that was a little bit! Holy shit I feel awesome!"

"Rhodey, I was trained by Hydra to notice  _ everything _ about people, they might be evil Nazis with logo confusion, their training methods might suck. But I'm damned good at my job. Come on where here." 

"You know it's extremely weird to hear you speaking about your time with Hydra as a  _ job _ . And it's not training, it was torture. Don't think I haven't noticed that you refused to take your shirt off near me. And that your nightmares have increased, are you remembering more?" 

Tony strolled straight past the line, getting more than a few looks. They range from annoyance, recognition, shock and at least two of serious interest that pinged that place inside of him that he'd named for the hunger. However he didn't have any interest in hanging out outside of the club. He flashed the bouncer a smile as he opened the door, this was on of Marcone's places and he had cleared everything ahead of time, he was happy to not have to deal with any trouble with lines. 

"Yeah, the more I eat, the more I remember. At least, after I got my abilities. Before that it's a bit fuzzier. I still don't remember much from Siberia." 

Anything Rhodey was about to say was swallowed as they entered the club, which was good because he wasn't even sure why he was hiding his scars from Rhodey really. They didn't bother him. The music was loud enough that his sense of hearing was rendered practically useless, a person could be getting murdered behind him and he wouldn't hear it. Rhodey was grinning, the energy boost making this more tolerable it seemed. 

The music was heavy and he could feel it along his skin. He didn't know if it was because of his hunger, but it felt good, the atmosphere had people dancing very close to each other and that felt amazing. He could easily lose himself in a place like this, he thought as they checked their coats. Rhodey signed to him. 

<I feel ancient, everyone here looks 12. Like you. I'm the parent chaperone.>

Tony rolled his eyes as they made their way towards the bar, it was impossible not to brush up against people, even though he had a long sleeved black top on, he was making flashes of skin contact here and there. 

Usually tiny brushes like that wouldn't do anything, but the atmosphere in the club was charged had it had his hunger running closer to the surface than normal. Rhodey glanced back and him and his eyes widened before pointing at his own eyes. 

<The long hair would come in handy right now.>

<Yes, but then you'd be looking like we lured you down from the hills with a haunch of meat.>

Tony stuck his tongue out, he hadn't looked that bad before he'd returned his beard to its apparently original state and had Pepper cut his hair. She'd been nervous about screwing it up and as such, it was a little longer to pictures he'd seen of himself. He didn't mind, he actually liked it. Rhodey found it amusing that he'd never known that his hair was curly.

<So, how does it feel? >

He let his eyes partially close to hopefully make the gold less obvious. He'd never tried doing this without skin contact, but he could feel the pulsating energy of the place. It was just drawing it in. Rhodey ordered them drinks as he gave it a few more times. Trying to work out if the unpleasant feeling was just because he was new at it. 

It felt weird and kind of wrong at first, but it definitely worked. Feeding from Dax had upped his standards it seemed, this quick and dirty feeding wasn't too much different from the sips he'd been taking when hunting Hydra. 

<It's like going from a 5 star, 6 course meal to stale granola bars.>

<That is the strangest comparison I have ever heard, I'm telling Dax you called him a 5-star meal. What was Dax's other plan?>

Tony gave him a sharp grin before downing his drink, Rhodey knew exactly what the second plan was so he followed suit and allowed himself to be dragged out to the dance floor. 

It was easier from here, as he was in the thick of it, and while it wasn't a full meal, it would stop him from ending up half starved again in a pinch. Which was the idea. It also apparently worked out as attracting people to him, which was interesting as he hadn't known Dax would be here tonight. Marcone had probably told him Tony was visiting. 

3 people and not a one of them was human. He was surprised when someone came up behind him and stuck their nose behind his ear. He didn't fully turn, but turned his head to catch his scent. Dax appeared on his left, looking more than a little smug and another woman to his left. 

Rhodey smirked and backed off a little, which Tony only barely noticed because he had developed a bit of a pavlovian response to Dax now, which the man was very aware of. Dax Took Rhodey's spot in front of him, just as mysterious mixed spices scent slipped their hands underneath his shirt. Just that contact there was better than anything he had got from the crowd as a whole, he felt more than heard them gasp against his ear as his Magic crackled down their arms from his chest. Instead of pulling away however they grabbed him much more securely. 

Tony decided he definitely liked Dax's friends, even people who enjoyed his magic tended to pull back at the first contact, especially if it sparked that hard. The feeling being too intense. Whoever was at his back didn't have that problem and he was happy to sink into their hold. The woman had bright, shining blue eyes and he could feel that she was somewhat like him. He was an experiment so he knew he'd never truly find someone like him, Silver was probably closest, but he had not felt like this woman had. Wanda was also like him, much she didn't need to be feed either. 

He found that they could create a feedback loop of a sort between him and blue eyes that ended up with extra energy even if they fed directly off of each other, her via a kiss and him from skin contact. Especially adding Dax and Mixed spice. 

Tony was definitely enjoying this aspect of being alive again. It was good not to be starving. 

_ I've got fire in my soul _

_ Rise up, ting ting, like glitter _

_ Like glitter and gold _

_ Like glitter _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I love periods picking up on my casual TV and film references xD.
> 
> I think most of them have been caught, a Firefly one has evaded my lovely readers so far.


	5. Soldier

Tony isn't sure when he first noticed him. Or rather heard him would be more accurate. He doesn't see him anywhere but the whisper fluttered through his mind. His magic rippled and pulled his attention towards him, crackling under his skin and setting his senses alight. Same as it was back in Sokovia, but much, much stronger now, it was hard to keep up the boring conversation when he picked it up. 

Whatever had happened in those intervening years had apparently sharpened the situation and he would be a downright liar if he wasn't imagining introducing that little Witch to some of his favourite knives, because he didn't want her dead anymore. No, he wanted her to suffer and he could taste it. After reading about the Witch, he had a few ideas for what triggered it. His magic wanted to rage and to go him, but Tony was stuck talking to three people who he had completely lost all interest in. 

If he didn't need to get this ridiculous planning permission through he'd lose the bores he was currently speaking too to and hunt the man down, it had been awhile since he had hunted and he was itching to do so. Especially for the Soldier. 

It probably didn't help matters that he had been travelling for awhile, and hadn't managed to get back to the penthouse in a few days.

He was getting spoilt, getting used to not starving, that and his powers had strengthened considerably now he was well fed. It wasn't only him that had started to enjoy the reality of life not on the razor edge of starvation and anytime he started itching close to hungry… yeah. That happened. All three men were now looking at him as if he was the only person in the damned world. Which, Tony had zero interest in feeding from any of them, they seemed.. Inadequate. 

The effect edged off slightly when the Soldier passed, he wondered if the Soldier had made him. Well, he must have. Even though this trip was kept mostly under wraps, he couldn't exactly do it under a guise afterall. He had been on a very open set of stairs. 

As he finally detached from the men, avoiding all bare skin contact he slipped into his car. Happy to be away from them, shuddering slightly as how hypersensitive his senses had become. He would have to wait for them to calm before driving, which meant he was stuck pinging anyone who walked by and getting flooded with their desires. He longed for the penthouse right now, high up enough that he could be alone. 

He told FRIDAY to watch for increased attention for Steve whilst he started flicking through the CCTV around the building. That was something he could do as he waited, hunt. His Soldier was like him, he edged past cameras without thinking, so Tony slipped into the traffic cameras. There were a few new ones, and had some strange angles that his Soldier might have missed. Tony might have missed them if he didn't get copied in all the camera placements in certain cities now. 

His Soldier definitely spotted him, but he didn't make any calls. He watched him. That was interesting, maybe this wouldn't be a hunt, maybe he would walk up to him instead. He didn't know how the serum made a difference to a baseline humans energy signature, but he rang higher than Dax and no one beat his Demonfyre friend. His magic has never acted like this before too, it was strange. Locating the man had at least given Tony's senses a chance to calm, so he could head back to the peace of the penthouse. 

He stepped out of the lift, still thinking about what happened, and utterly missed the people sat around the TV as he undid his tie, chucking it and the shirt jacket on the and tossing the cufflinks too. 

"Come watch a movie with us Tony, then you can tell us whose caught your eye." 

"Hm, re-caught. And Rhodey will have an aneurysm over him." 

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that because I know where you were close to today, watch the damned movie." 

"So, what are you naming this club?" 

"Not a fecking clue." 

"Well, you can't just leave it unnamed?" 

Dax tilted his head at that and Tony thought that it maybe wasn't a bad idea. Even if Rhodey hadn't meant it as an idea. It would be something that would make people wonder, and he didn't have to come up with a name. Vision seemed mostly confused about the whole thing. 

  
  


He was back a week later to check on how construction was going, he could feel the area and knew somehow the lure for people would be pretty easy. If he set a few wards at different locations it would passively lure people to the club. 

It also was a nice, neutral place for businesses too. Plus, no one would expect Tony Stark to be so close to the compound, especially given current Roger's stalkerish tendencies that even the media has gotten wind of now. That, and it wasn't exactly a huge jaunt from Stark Tower either. After checking that no one was planning on passing off shoddy work, he swung around City planning. He had a few more things that had needed straightening out. He picked up the scent and tried to ignore how hungry he made him. 

  
  


Pretty much every visit included his Soldier now. As he exited the building he waited until it hit him. He didn't know how long they were going to play this game, but it was making him hungry. The only thing that kept his eyes from flashing now was sheer willpower. He wondered what it was about the Soldier that pinged his radar and two or three times was a coincidence. Several times was definitely a pattern. He slowed, running a hand through his hair as he cast out, feeling for the man. Remembered the direction he was in before slipping into his car and pulling out of the car park. He later found a video of his Soldier and The Widow had watched him this time, and the incessant calls from Steve didn't alter. It was strange. He was definitely watching him, but not telling his best pal. 

FRIDAY was monitoring the situation and there was no change at the compound. His Soldier seemed to be keeping his presence mostly to himself and Tony found that he wasn't overly concerned but the situation, for some reason he trusted him to keep it to himself, bizarrely. It was interesting and very impressive that the man seemed to be able to track his movements to a degree of accuracy no one  _ ever _ had before. Tony tended to keep his activities erratic enough to confuse the best pattern recognition software he'd developed. So his interest was definitely peaked. 

He was stuck travelling for a stint after that, at least Dax and Rhodey had been able to join him, as he would have gotten irritated rather fast dealing with people without the pair tag teaming him. Dax's partner got along quite well with Pepper too and she found herself with a new assistant. 

He wasn't sure how the past version of himself dealt with all these people, who just kept touching him or shaking his hand more than necessary. Maybe it was because past him didn't have his abilities, but since he'd been back amongst the living and not starving, touching other people's skin felt more intimate and nauseating. Especially when they wanted things from him or just wanted him. 

It took every ounce of his training not to scowl after the third person slid their hand up his wrist and Rhodey and Dax ended up being forced to occasionally whisk him away when he was apparently looking a bit too  _ murdery _ . At least the club would be finished when he returned, he'd hired mostly power individuals to have it built and running in record time. 

  
  


It was just typical really the first day he set foot in his club after being back in the states, he had several meetings. He had carved wards into the stone and had silver poured into them. It made it easier to mask his identity and it left his office and the VIP room as silent or loud as he pleased, there was more too. It only took a trickle of power to ignite and fuel the system and he smiled as the wards lit up briefly before dimming, silence settling into the room. 

"You're getting very good at that." 

"Couldn't have done it without you Dax, Hydra trained me in what they could, they had no idea of the full extent of my abilities."

"Well, I've still not met someone like you, it's like you're made up of 4 different races combined with some other traits." 

"There was one who was similar to me. Silver. He was moved off base just before Snipe was 'retired'." 

"I'm guessing retire isn't getting to move to California." 

"The great asset farm in the sky is what we called it." 

He held back how much losing Snipe had hurt him, when he'd seen his friend dead. That had not been good, especially when he wasn't dealing with the loss of Silver very well. One anchor missing, the other anchor dead. 

"That's dark Tony. I am happy that Hydra never discovered my species." 

Tony nodded as they stepped out, he needed to repeat the process on his office and maybe get a few hours sleep. The jetlag was irritating. 

"Let's get you asleep before you get grouchy." 

"I don't get grouchy." 

"Ahuh, you and Siles didn't spend 2 hours grouching over breakfast in Italy because that band woke you both up then?" 

Tony stuck his tongue out as he pushed magic into the wards in the office and repeated the process in the bedroom. The bedroom was the most defensible. 

"Come up when you wake up, I'll get everyone in place." 

"Don't know what I'd do without you Dax." 

"I know, you're lucky Siles thinks your cute. Not sure when we signed up to adopt a human shaped cat." 

Tony flipped him off and flicked a spark of gold towards him. He rarely cast his magic away from his body, but he trusted Dax. He was like Rhodey, but demony. Although his friendship with Rhodey didn't include some aspects that Dax's did. Obviously. 

He managed a solid hour and 50 minutes before a nightmare wrenched him free from his dream. They didn't happen as often these days, but he still woke up with a nightmare 7 times out of 10. Better than 10 out of 10. Rhodey liked to remind him that it hasn't actually been that long since he escaped from Hydra, and then he spent 2 years running around on his own slaughtering Hydra before apparently retraumatizing himself by going back to The Charnel House. To him, he felt like he'd been free for ages so why wasn't he over it yet? What was the point of remembering being these events? He already knew that memory so why the repeat? 

He shoved it back and hopped in the shower, he couldn't head to a meeting like this, luckily his suite was set up incase he didn't have the energy to travel back to the Tower for whatever reason. 

He had barely set foot in the meeting room when he picked up on the Soldier again. He knew that he had barely reacted. He slowed for a fraction of a second and barely tilted his head, yet Dax raised his eyebrow, smirking at him. He knew when he caught something he liked by now. Which likely meant he was going to get another lecture about dating. Tony was pretty sure he couldn't exactly date. Finding a person who actually had more energy than Dax was virtually impossible and he had to be careful with Dax, unless he never fed of a person he dated, which would mean they could barely make skin contact. Plus, people generally mistook Dax and Stiles mother henning and helping him out when he was hungry as that he was in a relationship with the pair. It was just too complicated. 

No matter how much he wanted to sink his teeth into a certain Soldier who was watching the club. And sure, he felt like he had more energy, but the serum wasn't enough, Tony would be at the risk of accidentally killing him. He didn't want to do that. It wasn't fair on the man. 

The meeting went pretty quick, even with him being heavily distracted. The building the Soldier was stood in was due to be demolished soon, Tony hadn't decided what to do with it yet. Barring removing it, not only was it an eyesore, he hadn't realised how well the VIP floor lined up with it. People in the club would just see a normal VIP section and not remember anything other than hazy details of people drinking and dancing. That building was out of range of the wards, so they'd actually see what really happened in here. 

He waved Dax off, deciding to stick around instead of heading back to the penthouse. 

"Finally. How long have you been hunting this person?" 

"I've been doing nothing of the sort, he keeps finding me." 

"And we both know that's just a different kind of hunt for you. You ever going to tell me who it is?"

"You going to tell Rhodey?" 

"No, you look genuinely interested in them." 

"They're interesting, but it's not that."

"Sure it isn't. I know you Tony, you are definitely interested." 

"It's The Soldier." 

"As in Winter Soldier? James Buchanan Barnes? Steve Roger's Best buddie? The man who allows himself to be called 'Bucky'?"

"That was an extensive list, and yes." 

"How is he pinging to you? Desire or Food?" 

"Heavily on both, I might be reading it wrong, but he's the only person who reads with more energy than you. But that can't be right, can it? He was a baseline human given 1 serum." 

"Didn't he get put in cryo?" 

"Yeah, is that important?" 

"It's a death border. If he spent enough time there, he might have started to change. I doubt he's a simple human with a serum any more, he wouldn't have survived as many Cryo trips as I suspect, not and come out sane. I'll look into it Tones, you, taste the man." 

"What, why would I do that? He just wants the witch to suffer, I can do that without tasting him." 

"The Witch, Wanda? I bet she's been screwing with his head offer to set up protections for him if you can do that without giving him a taste you can choose the movie next week." 

He considered that, he'd cast wards on people and restrained himself before, he could do that easily. However, he wanted the other half of the bargain. 

"What if I can't?"

"Admitting defeat so easily?"

"No, I'm just not dumb enough to leave an open deal with a demonfyre again."

He gave him a look, because he had taught him that, his eyes sparked orange with amusement. 

"If you can't, all you have to do is give him a taste and offer a second. Simple." 

It sounded reasonable, which had him instantly on guard. A second go world be risk, even if he was pinging higher than Dax he'd have to be careful. He sat in the room alone, focusing on the threads of the man's desire trying to get a better feel and getting nothing actually useful. How exactly was he meant to get him over here anyway? 

Well. There was a way. It was a risk. Unlike the Witch, he rarely sent his magic out from his body like she did. She didn't even seem to realise the risks she was opening herself up to everytime she did. 

Tony sent the smallest spark down the line he'd caught from the man's desire, he probably should have backed out when his magic zipped straight to him almost gleefully. That was weird. He tugged the small spark with an obvious come here gesture. 

He saw a brief flash of confusion before it was gone, his Soldier had excellent control over his tells, even when magic turned up tugging his clothes. He couldn't help but be a little impressed. 

Tony wondered if he'd actually come. The last time they'd met face to face they had been fighting, whereas Tony still didn't have that memory, he just had a few snippets of the 'freezing to death' part. His Soldier remembered it, he'd had a good decade free of Hydra. Tony had  _ officially _ been back barely a few months at best. He gained more memories in those months that the prior two years, but he was still missing huge sections of his life. He'd read about it, but it was like reading a book, they didn't feel like  _ his  _ memories.

As the door opened, he hid his smile as the man stumble. He enjoyed the effect it had on people when they stepped in and the music suddenly cut off. When his soldier stumbled it was quite cute. 

"I could hear you from across the street you know? Sit." 

He crossed to the chair Tony directed and dropped into place silently. Proximity wasn't exactly helping. Tony had not long fed and yet his magic was thrumming beneath his skin. He could see traces of red magic muddying his energy and for some reason it was making him angry. He disliked the Witch and her powers, but he hadn't expected such a visceral reaction. 

"What could you hear?" 

Tony tilted his head mentally testing the edges and using the action to hide the reaction his magic was trying to push him too. He'd definitely have to speak to Dax later, maybe he'd know why he was having such a strong reaction. He felt compelled to clear the stain, not something he'd usually do for free. 

He never felt the need to do things for free unless with was for his inner circle. This was possibly the longest conversation he'd ever had with the man. 

He raised his hand, gold twisting around his fingers, his desire was tangled up with the mess the Witch left behind, so it left him get a clear view without touching him. 

"I still like to ask, even though I already know. What is it you desire?"

"You already know?" 

He decided that he needed to clear that magic, maybe that was why he was having trouble thinking clearly. When he got rid of it, he could think clearer around the man. 

"Hmm, of course I do. I can do it too, we can play the long game darling. Can even give you a little something here and now." 

"Okay." 

Tony blinked and knew his eyes had flashed gold, that he was so willing to put himself into Tony's hands.. That had his hunger surging forward as if he'd been neglecting it. At least his Soldier didn't know his magical tells.

"Tsk, are you not going to ask what the price is?" 

"I figured you'd tell me." 

Damn, he couldn't turn that down, not with his magic pushing at him like that. Practically purring beneath his skin. 

"Hmm, I like that, come here." 

He gestured forward again, similar to his previous come hither action, smiling when there wasn't a second of hesitation. Strangely it seemed to relax the man, he'd keep that in mind. Tony held his hands out where he could see them, and the magic coiled around his fingers. He wasn't going to do anything to terrify the man and Tony admittedly did not understand this triggering trauma bullshit if his own track record was anything to go by. Rhodey didn't understand how he kept accidentally traumatising the ever living shit out of himself and Tony explaining that he's basically relearning emotions hadn't exactly gone over well. It would probably lead to more fainting therapists like when Tony was asked what happened at Hydra, he tended to give a report. Which, apparently, was not good for other people's sanity. 

"I'm going to make it so your mind is safe, but she will _think_ she is still bothering you. So she won't push. Okay." 

"Yeah that's great.." 

He could see that he was worried his magic would feel like Wanda's. The best way Tony knew how to combat was to allow him magic to run unfiltered. Which he bet was Dax's idea, the damned Demonfyre had a touch of precognition, he was sure of it. The best way to ease this, was to do what the Demonfyre had recommended, annoyingly. As his Soldier… and when had he started that again? The Soldier. He wasn't his and he didn't recognise the feeling at that either, that was unimportant, but he did not like him flinching. 

Tony was going to make the Witch pay. He needed time, whilst they were under this lock down his hands were pretty tied, unless… unless they forced his hand. Hm. That had possibilities. He shelved that for now and devoted all of his attention to his, dammit. He had to stop that now he realised he was doing it. The Soldier. 

"You're OK, it's fine, this won't hurt you darling. I won't hurt you." 

His skin was warm and inviting as he'd meant to just lightly brush two fingers at each temple. Instead his fingers slid across his skin, tangling lightly with his hair and he found himself calming and letting his magic skim across his mind. The warm fire rooting out any scrap of red. Yes, he was doing a high level cleansing and healing. Dax would love it if he'd noticed he was doing this for basically free. He felt the gold pull from deep inside his as it wrapped around his mind. Breathing the wards into his mind. 

His eyes had mostly shut, his entire body gone lax as Tony warded his mind with wards that matched his own. His magic didn't recede when each stage was complete either, it coiled around his Soldier like a cat with catnip.

At a pure herculean effort on his side, he didn't give into that open temptation. No matter how much it hurt to pull back. He didn't know why, but it did, but he had done it. 

Until he listed forward, chasing the contact. Until that noise ripped him to his core and he couldn't leave him cold. 

"Oh darling, I'll give you a taste, come here." 

The fact he moved so fast just as Tony was moving back meant his hand slid down to his neck. He forced himself to remain in the seat, if he moved.. He wasn't entirely sure if he could stop himself. What was this man doing to him? He tasted good too, like nothing he'd ever come across before. He put more of the focus on his Soldier, but he did sip. He was going to have to invite him back and if he was honest, he would invite him back anyway, so he needed to take enough energy to test if such an action was safe. He didn't really have an excuse for how he took the energy, he could have taken it with the skin to skin contact, that was how he normally did it, but it was like his magic and body knew something that he didn't. 

He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, drawing off the slightest amount of energy whilst allowing his magic to sink in deep. He felt for the guys knees, so just before he pulled back, he sent a spark deep to ease his pain. As he pulled back he felt his pain clear and that was more than just his knees. What the damned hell, why was he suffering so damned much? Why hadn't this been cleared up in Wakanda or in the  _ years _ he'd been out of Hydra. Tony was oddly furious that he'd been left to suffer like this. He kept it off his features, he didn't want to undo all the effort he'd gone to calming the man. He didn't need Dax's deal, he was already invested. 

He controlled his features, but he couldn't control his magic. Luckily his Soldier didn't know how to read his magical tells. He likely thought it was just a side effect of using his magic as it sparked and crackled. His eyes he knew were completely gold instead of brown, any of his family could read that he was beyond furious his Soldier had been left to suffer like this, but he smiled, because that's what Rhodey told him to do to make people feel at ease? He wasn't usually good at ease. Somehow it worked.

"You know when I visit, don't you." 

He nodded, with made Tony's smile broaden. 

"Good, I don't tolerate people who lie to me." 

"I won't lie."

"Then feel free to come back darling if you want another. You taste very nice, a man could get hooked on it." 

Already was if he was being honest. Plus, he needed him to return now. Tony couldn't leave him suffering like this. He mentally tugged at the obfuscation ward, he didn't know why he did it, but it was important for some reason that he remembered it was him and not just Gold. It was a risk, a stupid risk. But as he left he couldn't feel bad about it. 

Even when he got back to the penthouse, he skipped his room and headed for Dax and Siles. It was 2am so they'd probably be awake and wouldn't mind him dropping down in-between them. He was still when Siles pulled the blanket over him, but they'd been working on that and having two Demons curls up with him helped. 

"Hmm, you smell of someone else, and your energy levels seriously depleted, tell me everything." 

Dax sounded smug and had that tone of voice that meant he wanted every detail.

So he did because Dax and Siles didn't look sad or depressed when he showed confusion with human emotions. He got a feeling Dax knew something that he wasn't telling him, but that was when he was meant to work it out himself or something. It was annoying but not a new experience. 

"It's good you healed and protected him Tony, but what are you going to do about his pain?" 

"I'm going to fix it. I don't know how yet, but he isn't allowed to be in pain. It's not right." 

"How do you think of him..?" 

"He's The Soldier, we didn't exactly swap pet names." 

Dax frowned and nipped his shoulder with one of his fangs, he would work out how his ability worked one day that turned him into a mysterious mystical know it all. 

"He's my Soldier." 

"Good." 

He didn't understand it, but it was good, he could admit that. 

  
  


Tony found himself moving up meetings so he had an excuse to go back to the club. From the knowing smirks of his family, it had been obvious. He found it hard to care however when one of his staff told him his Soldier had been sent to his office. 

He entered the office silent enough that he could stand behind the man undetected and see if he had replenished what he'd taken. He was stunned to see that not only had he completely replenished when he'd taken, he somehow increased his energy. If this had been anyone else he would have made contact, but he found himself cautious. Tony didn't want to hurt him. 

"I usually have to be careful you know, I've accidentally killed people like this." 

He leaned on the back of the chair, trying to work out if this was safe. Everything told him it was, but he was  _ different _ . No one was like this. Tony would rather test it out on someone else. 

"You seem to be different." 

"Is that good?" 

"Hmm, usually after what I gave you last time, it wouldn't be safe to touch you so soon." 

He stopped his hand, centimetres from his neck. Even then he could feel the air charged. He was as close as he dared without touching him. Unable to back off. 

His Soldier however hurled his good intentions out of the window. Tony had  _ never _ heard his magic crackle that loudly, and the only reason he stayed where he was, was because he was holding onto the chair with everything in him. He ran his tongue across his teeth a few times, it didn't alleviate the need to sink his teeth into his neck, but it distracted him. 

When Tony managed to talk, he was quite impressed with himself in hindsight. He didn't however remove his hand. His skin was so warm, super soldiers apparently ran hot. 

He made it very clear what kind of favour, it had been Dax's idea. He didn't know why he had told him to offer this up. It had been something Tony was going to take care off, but Dax had cryptically told him to ask his Soldier.

"Would you be up for doing me a favour?" 

He didn't answer a negative, instead he raised his wrist, revealing the silver band flush against his skin. For some reason it irritated him, that someone had ripped off his design was only part of it, not that he could pinpoint the rest of it. Not for the first time he thought having human emotions was exhausting. 

"Based of my design darling, that's easy." 

There was no hesitation. He locked his eyes and answered with a degree of confidence that sucked him in. He had a feeling this was why Dax had told him to do this. 

"Then yes." 

"Really? I thought you were happy to get out of this gig? Happy to not be following orders." 

He held his arm out confidently, but Tony was only focused on his eyes, no this was why. Hydra had taken them both apart, put them back together with a purpose. Hydra didn't exactly care if they didn't go back together properly. That dark thing he knows is the inside him that enjoys the slice of a blade too much is there in his darling Soldier. It's caged, it's starving. Poor darling, they were doing an awful job of caring for his Soldier at the compound. 

"It's different when I choose to follow." 

It satisfied something inside him to remove the band, he'd add his own program to it whilst his Soldier was out too. He doesn't doubt that the Winter Soldier can be a ghost story again, but if something happens when he has that band on, he can tweak his location and protect him. His magic constantly arced for him, even when his fingers hadn't brushed his skin. He'd never known his magic to be so excitable. He barely paid attention to the staff member he buzzed to keep the band moving. 

"If you get back quick enough we'll even have some time before you turn into a pumpkin." 

Dax was right again. That he'd finish the job in under two hours. He'd have complained, but watching his Soldier work would be worth any amount of smug taunting. As had tasting him after. It was so hard holding back sinking his teeth in, he was itching to do it. 

  
  


It wasn't until his fourth visit and another two jobs later that Tony started to let it sink in that his Soldier wasn't going to drop dead, being drained accidentally. He'd tried to put him off, because he felt he should have to. He was pulling him from the good side but his Soldier had put a stop to that before it barely got started. He did take him out on a job to see what he could do with his magic, how it could drain someone easily. It hadn't caused the slightest hesitation. 

He dropped himself behind his desk, he needed to get up and go to the club. He couldn't feed from here. He had expended energy in a nightmare, practically vomiting his reserves that he'd built up for when Dax and Siles were in Italy. He couldn't tell Rhodey as they had two days before they'd come home. He couldn't do that to them, but he was as close to starving as he'd been when he'd first met Dax. Worse maybe, as he'd become accustomed to being well fed now. He didn't even hear the door open, but when his Soldier spoke, he had his rapt attention. He held himself back with everything he had. 

"What's wrong doll." 

"Nothing.. It's just. I'm..  _ hungry _ ." 

He tracked him as he moved, it was that or he'd have already been across the desk. 

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then, isn't it?" 

He took that for permission and moved, he gained speed in short bursts like this. Anything that could increase his chance of food. He didn't have the presence of mind to hold back like he had been as his magic sparked and crackled when he got his hands on bare skin and burrowing his head into his neck. It was easy to hold him up against the wall, as everything narrowed down. He finally got his teeth into his neck, but pulled back, chasing away any sting.

"God you taste so good. No one else like you, don't have to be careful about touching you, my magic likes you too, did you know that darling? No one tastes better than you." 

His Soldier gripped him with enough strength that it might even bruise Tony though, if he'd been a human he'd probably have broken something under that strength. It did help him clear his head a little in one way, in other ways it felt too good. 

"Not leaving, just want your head clear before I offer more."

"More?"

It flooded out his desires for the witch to suffer which amused him. Oh, he definitely liked his Soldier. 

"More." 

He knew after this he'd have to move up his plans. After this he'd want more than tiny snatches and Tony tended to get what he wanted. He had his Soldier next… Next he'd catch himself a Spider.


	6. Connection

"There, Clint is very happy that _someone_ swung this deal for him. He didn't say your name, but I think that's the direction is leaning." 

Tony was lounging on the sofa using Dax as a pillow, the Demon was playing Mario Kart with Peter. Tony had reconnected, or, just connected? With the kid, although Tony didn't know why people were calling him a kid at 22. It had taken a while before Pepper and Rhodey had decided he was safe for meeting the teen his previous iteration had taken on. They got on surprisingly well considering he was the paragon of all things good and shiny. He wondered if Rhodey and Pepper had a schedule for him meeting people, knowing Pepper, yes. It would be infinitely complicated and somehow perfect. He figured he'd just go with it. 

"Birdbrain can occasionally be intelligent. Interesting." 

Dax and Peter snorted to that and he felt Pepper sit down, lifting his feet to drop into her lap. 

"So, Tony, when is your plan going into finally to get James moved in?"

Dax questioned utterly out of the blue, leaving Tony blinking in confusion. 

"Why do you assume I have a plan?" 

"Because I know you, you aren't going to leave your soulmate in that place." 

He froze and turned to look at Dax who was mostly concentrating on the game. Capitulating on Peter's distraction at the idea of soulmates. 

"Um. Say what now?" 

"Wait? Don't humans have a concept of soulmate?" 

Peter gapes as he answers. 

"Yeah. In fiction! Not in reality, oh my god.." 

"Humans are weird, Tony does your magic react differently around him?" 

"Yeah bu-" 

"Does it want to get to him?" 

"Yeah bu-" 

"Do you dislike the mere idea of him living elsewhere. 

He just glared at him this time. 

"How did you react when you saw the Witches magic on him." 

He didn't need to say anything, his eyes flashes bright, violent gold and sparks crackled violently from his hands, throwing sparks like an arc welder. Peter's jaw dropped, Tony had been careful about how much magic he used around him, he knew who Tony was but then Gold was only a name known in certain circles as anything other than the man who took down Hydra. He didn't flaunt it unless there was a reason. Displays like this are generally from a lack of control and Tony was a pillar of steadfast control in everything he does these days. Dax seemed amused at the strength of his reaction. 

"I'll give you a ward to tell you for sure if you want, he has something from his time in cryo. It will mark you both permanently if you are linked. "

"So, I go up to the guy I've met a handful of times and ask him to get matching tattoos and be my soulmate?" 

"Hopefully with more tact. He already is your soulmate, He'll feel the pull as much as you do, and they'll be complementary rather than matching. 

"You're serious? Not fucking with me here?" 

Dax put the controller down and hiked up his sleeve, there was a yellow band around his wrist. Tony had seen it before but he'd never really focused on it. Hovering his hand over it, he can feel a subtle hum of magic from it. That, and it actually scented like Siles. 

Tony isn't exactly sure what to do with this information. 

He's not sure he's even a real person as such, the idea of a _relationship_ , let alone a _soulmate…_ feels like his Soldier is getting a rough shot deal. He ran his hand over his face but still can't think about not seeing him again. The look Dax has on his face is clear that he has an idea of where his thoughts are going. 

"I can't believe soulmates are real. Do humans have them?" 

He's almost thankful that Peter is instantly interested and asking questions, because he has no idea what to say. At all. Being alive is just.. Confusing. Everytime he works out the parameters, the function or datatype changes and it throws the entire code off. 

"Sure. You just lost the ability to recognise them over the years, I didn't realise the idea had faded to fiction. The more magic in a person, the higher the chance of finding your soulmate and Tony, you have a lot of magic."

"I do?" 

"Hmm, more than some races born to it. I don't know how Hydra did it." 

"Trial and error. You've seen my number, I was the oldest in my unit. Only two of the magic experiments actually survived, they were up to group November when I left, and they didn't start a new group until they hit 999." 

He was experiment 186 of group Alpha, but then it's easy to go through experiments as fast as they did with the Weasel in charge. He'd seen some of them. It had not been pretty and every trip to that white room had him wondering if it was the last. With the fevers and delirium sometimes he wanted it to be over, but he's a fighter and that's what he did. Even reading his file wasn't helpful, not everything was charted and he knew the Weasel just liked pushing how far he could go, he didn't care if they survived after all, if anything then living made it hard to do autopsies. He'd looked at his blood work now.. It's a mess. 

Peter looked pained, Tony glanced at Dax who patted him on the head and started giving Peter a lecture on soulmates and Tony tried to pretend he wasn't spinning on the idea. 

His magic was sparking, thankfully not outwardly at the idea of seeing his Soldier. 

He wondered if that was why, why he'd first seen him in Sokovia. He'd caught his attention then. He had barely any memories at that point and had just been jumping from base to base. Half starved because he didn't actually know how to look after himself. He didn't know how much food he needed, wet or solid. He'd barely worked out who he was. He'd only just started to not flinch when he saw himself in a reflective surface and he'd seen the Soldier and everything in him had screamed to get to him. 

He'd only remained in that tree thanks to his training to ignore his own needs. 

"Looks like I'm visiting the compound sooner rather than later, hey, maybe Roger's will stop pestering FRIDAY." 

"I'm sure you'll have fun winding the man up." 

"Now, would I ever do such a thing." 

"Yes." 

He blinked up at the new voice in time for Siles to appear above him. Leaning over the sofa to see Dax and ruffling his hair. Tony batted his hand away. 

"You don't even know what we're talking about." 

"Hmm, but when you use that tone of voice, you're usually up to something fun. Like when we spent that week pranking Dax." 

He snickered, that had been amusing. Siles joined the pile on the sofa and Tony decided to put his stress on the side for now and enjoy the puppy pile of warmth. Peter asking 400 questions about soulmates, he did give in and text his Soldier. That he'd be dropping in earlier than they'd planned. 

They'd act as if it was the first time and Tony would arrange to meet up with him after, to maybe explain this whole… soulmate stuff. He was expecting the man to bolt in the other direction and that was probably better for him. But Tony.. Tony was a selfish, selfish man. He wanted his Soldier. Wanted him to be _his._ Safe in his tower where the witch couldn't get her disgusting magic anywhere near him. 

Yeah, he knew that his Soldier was going to be dangerous the first time he'd seen him. 

He was sitting in the back of the car with Pepper and Rhodey, Happy was driving them towards the compound and he'd was torn. Part of him was itching to see his Soldier again, now he'd recognised that feeling, it was incredibly obvious and he couldn't ignore it now, wasn't sure how he had before now. 

There was also the fact he had to be in the same room as Rogers. He… wasn't sure about that. When he'd first discovered that Rogers was the root of him ending up in The Charnel House, it had caused a conflict. He had killed everyone involved with his tenure after all. Barring a single handler he was unsure on. The Weasel had been gone when he came back to the Charnel House. He looked to think some of his experiments got loose and tore him apart. 

Rogers however, was still wandering around, constantly messaging him every damned day. 

Why he was so obsessed with talking to him, he had no idea. But from what he had learned from his fractured memories, FRIDAY, Pepper and Rhodey, their 'friendship' hadn't exactly been balanced. 

He hadn't quite categorised the man in his mind with Handlers and he had passed over Peppers suggestions of ruining him. He had been quite willing just to pretend he didn't exist but he wouldn't leave him be. He had some half formulated plans for quite far in the future, but nothing solid and he had been telling the truth when he told Pepper he wanted to move in. 

But, and that was a huge thing. His Soldier had come to him. Stinking of wretched, sloppy magic. He couldn't do _nothing_ . His desire to have her suffer had his magic sitting up and crackling for him. Then there was the fact that he himself was something he couldn't send away. Not now. Not now he had had a _real_ taste and his mind couldn't stop flicking back to it. That even after he'd fed deeply, they were both humming with energy. That there was that dark hunger behind his eyes, a twin to the one he carried himself. Watching his Soldier handle his weapons was enough to make concentrating on anything else hard. 

There was also the soft side to the man. That he'd come out of Hydra and had started rebuilding his personality whilst Tony was still.. Not there yet. His Soldier had likes and hobbies, interests. He'd spent 46 minutes in bed telling him about books he'd read and that when the parole was up, he wanted to get his GED. He liked videos of tiny kittens. He li-

"You're thinking about Barnes again aren't you?" 

Rhodey jerked him out of his thoughts, that had spiralled into a kind of weird area hadn't they? He blinked a few times at Rhodey because he suddenly felt ridiculously out of his depth. Every time he'd met his Soldier he'd been put together, strong and pretty in charge and now he felt.. Lacking. 

"Hey, man are you okay?" 

"I don't know if I am even a person most days." 

He knew he sounded bitter and pathetic. He needs to get past this, no way is he going and talking to Rogers feeling like just the weapon Hydra crafted him into. 

"Of course you are, you're my best friend. I don't care if you're missing memories, we'll make new ones. Better ones. I don't care what weird skills you have, I don't want you to change man. Sure, I miss aspects of Tony, but then I missed MIT Tony, Party Tony, Stay up for 4 days and blow up the lab Tony, drive 18 hours to order a very specific pizza Tony. You've changed, we _all_ change, but you'll always be Tones to me. Even if you hadn't remembered me at all, then we could have started from scratch. You're my Tones, got it?"

"Thanks Platypus."

Rhodey's eyes widened before he smiles and practically dove at him for a hug. The fact he did that with no hesitation because of his magic? It settled the roiling storm. He could do this. 

Happy stayed in the car, apparently he isn't the only one concerned about meeting Rogers. Tony is pretty sure he has gotten to the point where he won't have a knife at the man's throat before he can blink. He wants his Soldier, as easy as killing Rogers would be, it would be problematic and plus, a part of him didn't want it to be over that quick. The part of him that can recognise desires and work to give them to people, it has a darker side. That wants to turn their desires, hopes and goals to ash in their mouths. The Captain might have been his best friend once, but he seemed to have sided with the little Witch against him one too many times. 

He recognised the compound from pictures only, from what FRIDAY had shown him when he had decided to make the visit. Tony doesn't enter unknown buildings without knowing what every room on every floor is for, he might have designed this place, well. A previous iteration of himself designed this place, but none of it means anything special to him, those memories have not returned. 

He wanders in, casually looking around, pulling off his sunglasses as he enters the kitchen, hanging them from his shirt pocket. He stretched his arms out, bringing his hands together as he takes stock of everyone. Ranking their threat levels and moving to stand in a position where he can see everyone easily. 

The room goes silent, like a pin drop and he can't help the small smile that crosses his face, nor the urge to maybe play a little. The Super Soldier apparently hadn't even noticed he was there. 

"Rogers." 

Clint looked genuinely shocked for a second next to Natka's feigned shock. He could see amusement shining in her eyes. Everyone was watching him, but his Soldiers gaze had a weight to it that the others lacked. Drawing him in like a lodestone. Even though he wasn't hungry, his skin was humming at the proximity. Wanted.. No needing to close the distance. 

Rogers practically scrambled to stand up, Tony kept his face blank instead of raising an eyebrow and turning to Rhodey to say 'Seriously?'. Rhodey must have had a similar thought as he saw his lip quirk in amusement, not quite breaking his 'I'm so fed up with you right now' face that was aimed at Rogers. 

Rogers seemed content to gape at him. Which considering he had been pestering FRIDAY non stop to get him here, Tony didn't get it. He didn't seem to look any different than he had in the photos from before Siberia. More lines on his forehead, but the serum kept him young and fit like Natka and his Soldier. 

He feels Wanda brush up the wards in his mind, questing to slip into his memories as if she had a right to do so. With all the finesse of a monster truck. He flicks multiple trains of his thoughts to memories from the Charnel House on different tracks around his defense and chucked some other code in too. His face passive and calm as she paled and looked nauseated, her hand raising to her head and wincing from trying to deal with several trains of thought at once. He feels a spike of amusement from his Soldier, who had desired her gone from the room as she silently backed out of the room and it is frankly ridiculous how good he feels for having done that for him.

"Have you been pestering my AI for so long just to stare at me Rogers?" 

"No, it's just a shock all. I didn't think you'd come so soon or.." 

Tony tilted his head, amused at this game they seem to be playing, he turned on his heal, dismissing Rogers completely and moving his full attention to Clint and Natka. He held a hand to shake Clint's hand, holding his magic in check so it didn't show at the skin contact. 

The man didn't seem to hate him anymore. Which after what he'd been told about the civil war was a shock. Reading him via the skin contact, he was somewhat impressed by him now. That was interesting. He was convinced that he had ordered the move to his farm, clever bird. 

"Was in the neighbourhood. Congrats Birdbrain. Hear you're going home." 

"Yeah, tomorrow, I can't wait to see them."

"Well pass along my regards. Little Natka, I have something for you."

Tony very slowly slipped his hand into his jacket pocket, Natka tensed as they'd planned which sent the tension level in the room skyrocketing. It was quite ridiculous how easy it was to play with them, Roger's eyes had widened, hands twitched and was looking as if Tony was about to pull a gun and shoot her. He flashed Natka a smile, it hadn't taken her long to realise that he liked to play occasionally and she was happy to help, but then he was sure she enjoyed it just as much. Maybe he should have brought her a gun. That could have been hilarious, the candies however were her favourite. He remembered that, without being told. They weren't available in America so he imported them for her. 

He caught her right hand and brought it to his lips, brushing a light kiss smirking at her rolled eyes. He shot her a quick wide smile, winking as he moved to his Soldier, shunting a stool he stepped on lightly, standing close enough to box him into the window, so he is mostly out it sight. He slides his hand into his, a quiet sigh as his eyelids drop and the contact, his magic finally letting the constant hum quiet down. His Soldiers eyes widened slightly but he squeezed his hand, he could feel that he was happy to see him. Which meant more to him than he expected, so he didn't let go of his hand. Fuck Rogers, he wanted this. Plus, he bet the man was confused. 

His Soldier looked a bit confused too, he was going off script. Meeting people for the first time didn't generally include holding hands like this, he was sure of it. But fuck it. When his Soldier seemed to realise that Tony wasn't letting go, he blushed and really that made it worth it. He knew that his eyes had fired gold and was lucky his back was to the room. His Soldier however had actually started to learn Tony's tells via his magic extremely quickly, and he'd definitely picked up on a change in Tony, he watched him lick his lips and swallow and it was all of Tony's self control not to just drag the man out of here right now. In amongst the shy blushes, he saw a glint in his eyes, he knew exactly what he was doing to Tony and was enjoying it. 

"And what do you go by these days darling?" 

He smirked as his pupils dilated at being called darling, they were both winding each other up now. He'd worked out how to ping Tony's ability to sense desires, the pain for the witch faded, replaced with suggestions that had his mouth dry and listing slightly towards him. 

"James, or uh, Soldat. Natalia calls me Yasha." 

"Hmm all very fine choices, you enjoying your time at the compound Soldat." 

"More and more every day." 

He bet he was, not having a little witch messing with your mind, that must make things better. He ran his thumb across the back of the hand he was holding, sending a tiny flare of gold, leaving a streak of gold on his hand as it sunk in and his Soldiers breath hitched. He couldn't say who won because just that alone did things to him, the fact no one had any idea what they were doing just added to the fun. 

He ever so slowly released his hand, making it was clear that it was the last thing he wanted to do and was graced with another blush as his hand curled around the note he'd left. Yeah, he didn't want to do this by text, and saying we need to talk sounded more break up-ish than 'I think you're my soulmate! Want to get magical tattoos to know for sure?' so he hoped his please meet me at the club note worked even if they hadn't planned anything tonight 

"That's great darling. At some point the two of us should get together and sort out that travesty you have been lumbered with, hmm?" 

He grinned, he knew they'd assume his arm, but he also meant Rogers. 

"That.. would be great, thank you." 

"I'll be seeing you soon then, Soldat." 

He grudgingly hops down, leaving the warmth of his Soldier and feels his magic reaching for him. Rhodey catches his eye with a shit eating grin and raised eyebrows. He rolls his eyes and turns to his next target. He already looked somewhere between terror and awe, which was interesting. He wondered when that happened. He shook his hand and got a read on him, he was flustered and it seemed to be from the tech. He'd found out earlier why Sam had been chosen for the original Exo Suit and with a bit of digging, noticed that his technical skills had been _woefully_ under appreciated, he figured a bit of guidance and maybe he could encourage that side of him. 

"Birdbrain 2.0, you keeping up on managing the wings? I saw the past mission on the news and was pleased to see them in such pristine condition. I'm impressed." 

Sam nodded rapidly grinning and he could feel how much he had wanted this but had never had the opportunity. Well, that was changing. His little Natka liked this man and this would be a way that he could lure the little bird away from the nest. Would likely have to shatter that Captain America sized blind spot first maybe, he'd see how it went. 

"Yeah, they're a beautiful piece of tech, it's very intuitive."

"Not to many people, most people wouldn't have a clue, I do have something for you though. I'm starting to feel like santa here." 

Tony grinned before slipping his hand into the other side from where he had fetched Natasha's sweets from. This time, the atmosphere stayed perfectly relaxed, which had him smirking. It was a dangerously stupid thing to assume a person was safe just because the first thing they pulled out was candy. He held up the new StarkPad he'd developed up to Sam, he took it tentatively as if it were made of spun glass as Tony hit a button bringing up the Exo suit. He instantly recognised the value of what he was holding, impressing him again. He could feel Rhodey's quiet approval too. Rhodey liked this birdy too. 

"This.. This is.." 

"All the information about the Falcon wings from their creation to any new notes I jotted down. I have some equipment being sent to the workshop too, it needs a new owner. So you keep them humming and even upgrade them." 

Sam blinked up from the screen, settling on Tony's face with a look bordering on utter awe this time. 

"Thank you, man, uh, Mr? Dr Stark? This is, just, wow." 

"Call me Tony Birdbrain 2.0. I'd like to see any changes you make too, could be fun, maybe colab." 

Tony winked, leaving Sam stuttering as he crossed to the door. Pinning Rogers with a hard look and tilting his head towards the hall, Rogers paled under his intense gaze. He didn't wait or watch to see if he had been followed, he was accustomed to having his orders followed these days. 

The door closed behind Rogers and all the noise from the common room blocked out. If he strained he could hear murmuring, but the soundproofing was good, which meant no interruptions. He made Rogers wait a little more, standing blithely with his back to him. Showing that he didn't view him as a threat or anything important in one move, smirking to himself as he heard him fidget. He wiped it from his face as he turned, putting of the feeling of disinterest. 

"So. What do you want?" 

Rogers seemed confused at his question, which amused him but he didn't let it show. He knew what Rogers wanted of course, it was why he didn't bother replying. It's like they forgot FRIDAY was here. Although, he supposed the old him might have cared about privacy protocols. He had FRIDAY pay attention anytime any variation of his name was mentioned. 

"None of us had seen you since.. You came back." 

Seems like the man who practically delivered him into the waiting hands of Hydra couldn't say the words. Interesting. 

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay. Was hoping that maybe you'd come back. Stay here occasionally, be part of the family again. I thought you'd enjoy making equipment and stuff, even if you didn't want to by Ironman again, which makes sense. Better than all this politics stuff you're caught up in. You'd be around people who know what you went through. So I could keep an eye on you too, like old times."

Real anger rippled through him, with an iron grip on his magic he knew he didn't slip, but he didn't bother hiding the rage as he took a threatening step forward. Seeing as he was shorter, it was amusing that Rogers paled. But then he'd been one of the smaller people in the Charnel House and yet he was the one standing here today. He kept his voice even and measured as he spoke. As it seemed to unnerve the Super Soldier and Tony _loved_ unnerving people. 

"Like old times where you jeered and watched with suspicion, in case I created another Ultron? Like old times when you used me, played me, hid the murder of my parents whilst berating me for having secrets? Like old times where you beat until my bones cracked whilst I was grieving? Like when you left me to freeze to death choking on my own blood with constant panic attacks of drowning? Like when Hydra turned up, I stupidly thought you had come back for me? Like years of pain, suffering, chaos, blood, death and servitude?"

He offered Rogers a smile, the one that set people's teeth on edge that he knew made people worry for their safety and the lack of his sanity. It was one of his favourites. 

"My memories might be hazy Rogers. FRIDAYs are not. I will tell you this once Rogers and once will be all. I will never be your whipping boy again. I will not be your cash cow begging for a few seconds of attention that you lavish on others."

He leaned forward, this time his voice did raise, he made it loud enough and angled to echo down the hall and make the other man flinch at the increased volume. 

"I do not take _orders_! Ponimayu?! "

It had the desired effect as he let himself slip into that 'he isn't quite all there' smile. Letting him making any connections he wanted about the use of Russian. It wasn't the primary language used at the Charnel House, they had scientists and handlers from all over and he'd been forced to become a hyperglot. But he knew Rogers associated Russian with the asset programming which was why he used it. 

"No orders, I wouldn't do that to you Tony." 

Of course he wouldn't, he'd just expect any suggestions to be followed as if it were the law. He didn't have many memories of this man, but he'd researched him. 

"Then, pray tell Rogers, how exactly do you plan to coral me to your view of morality? Hmm?" 

He could see Rogers was thrown by his snap changes, so he kept his face easy, head tilted as if he didn't know the answer. 

"Suggestions." 

"That I will be expected to follow." 

"It... It's not like that, I'm trying to help!"

"I did not ask for your help." 

"You didn't need to. That's what friends do."

Tony had tried to be good. Sure, he had played a little, but nothing much. He'd kept a certain distance and only let his anger show once. But then Rogers had to fuck it all up. Friend was a… trigger of sorts for him. Coming from the man who had claimed to be his friend then practically handed him half dead to the waiting hands of Hydra? He couldn't even _hope_ to contain the blistering rage that whipped through him. He moved fast, and hard as his fist made contact with Rogers face. 

He turned away, ostensibly to fix his tie in the glass of a picture. His tie didn't need fixing, but he needed to wait for his eyes to go back to their normal colour. Rogers seemed confused about what had happened, he could smell it on him. He obviously didn't expect him to be so fast, or strong for that matter he thought as he wiped the man's blood off of his hands. Or for him to have hit him at all? Which was stupid really seeing as he'd dealt with his Soldier after Hydra and there had been many fights. 

The ring would need cleaning now it had been bloodied, it smelled of Rogers. Siles would probably be amused at it had been a gift from him to see if he could associate the metal with something good instead of bad, he wasn't sure when he'd signed up for therapy with the soulmate and semi regular lunch partner of his other regular lunch partner, but apparently he had. The demons regularly tag teamed him. 

"Speak to me like that again and I will not just evict you Rogers. I will ruin you." 

"I just want things to go back to before." 

"Of course you do. You were on the top, everything came up Steve and all the blame landed on Tony. You taught me that we were never friends Rogers. Suck it up and stop fucking stalking me. Only contact me if you have a real reason. I won't be here to take the blame for everything. Every further complaint regarding funding will be met with a 50% decrease. The only equipment I have a hand in with be via private offers I make. Understood?"

He waited as Rogers opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. Do not push me Rogers. This time, I will push back." 

He didn't bother to look back after he'd dropped the silk handkerchief in his lap and he left the building with Pepper and Rhodey. His Soldier was going to meet him around half 9 and they drove straight to his club. They hadn't visited before so they got a tour when everything was pretty quiet. 

He still had some time to kill, so he left them in the VIP lounge and headed for his office. He dropped the ring on his desk to be cleaned and moved into his bedroom, stripping and ditching his clothes as he went for the shower. He smelt like too many people and it was starting to make him angry for some reason. He didn't question it, human emotions regularly made no sense to him, he'd given up a long time ago. 

He must have been in longer than he thought as he had his head bowed under the stream when the door knocked and he heard someone slip in. He'd had the shower on quite hot so he'd fogged the room. 

"Room for another in that sauna?" 

"Sure." 

It wasn't until he stepped in that he realised he obviously didn't have the extra cover on his forearm and him attempting to cover it was really damned obvious. 

"I won't look if you don't want me too doll." 

True to his word, he just stepped flush against him, resting his chin on his head and stroking down his back that had Tony melting. Dax and Siles called him touch starved but also touch averse most of the time, for some reason he never had that problem with his Soldier. He craved more if anything else, probably more evidence for this weird thing. He figured it they were having that conversation then why not let him see. 

"You can look, it just.. Tends to freak people out." 

He didn't move back much just enough to see as he ran his hand down his left arm. Tony turned his arm up as his fingers skated over the numbers, his metal hand gripped his hip, hard, he'd probably have a handprint there later and he didn't hide the fact that it felt good. 

"They'll never get you again." 

"Because I killed them." 

"Because you killed them." 

Most people seem to … tolerate his little killing spree, accepting the mass death because they were Hydra but generally try not to think about it too hard, his Soldier, his steel grey eyes shined with the idea. He takes up where Tony hadn't quite gotten started, the light scented body wash that he had not picked because the cocoa reminded him of his Soldier mixed scent. Okay, maybe he had a thing and hadn't realised it. 

He had this mix of leather, chocolate and the scent of the deep forest. Different notes changing on his mood. The chocolate was when he was happy and it instantly started to relax him. This was different he was sure, well he didn't know if he had done this with someone before in his past life, but it was new to him. Showers were a dangerous place but he felt warm and safe. It wasn't until they'd washed and rinsed each others hair that he spoke. 

"So, why the note? I didn't think you were going to be here today." 

"I found something out that I wanted to tell you in person. But it's kind of weird and I don't know how to go about it." 

"Just tell me, you can't weird me out after we started talking because you heard my fervent wish to torture the witch across the street." 

He chuckled at that, and it did help a little actually, relaxing him. 

"Did you know soulmates are real? But humans lost the ability to find them when they lost touch with magic?" 

"That sounds weird. Is it like the other half of a split soul thing?" 

"No, Dax said humans come up with weird stuff. It's two or occasionally more compatibility of magic." 

"That sounds cool. Kind of wish I had magic now.." 

"Dax thinks you might someday, or something. Something about cryo, but I'll let him explain that to you when you finally meet. There is apparently a way to find out, a ward, not one of mine. But if it's true, you end up with magic tattoos. Dax and Siles have bands around their wrists that carry each other's scents. "

"I don't want to be jumping to conclusions here doll, but is there a reason were talking about soulmates in the shower."

Tony actually flushed at that, which made his Soldier light up like a Christmas tree at making Tony blush. 

"The shower wasn't part of the plan, I'm not so good at this. My magic likes you darling. A lot. I've never felt it act like this and I know I've not got all my memories, but from the second I saw you it bubbled up and I _wanted_." 

"Was that when you cleared the Witch from my head, or did you see me in the town when I saw you?" 

He shook his head, still kind of embarrassed by this whole thing, half hiding against the man's flesh shoulder. 

"Sokovia." 

"How?" 

"Let's start drying off and I'll tell you before I turn into a merperson." 

  
  


"My exit strategy after dealing with Ross was a few hours out, so I climbed a tree. Cloaked myself and watched. I stole someone's lunch and some tech too. Then you walked out and my magic surged and I _wanted_. I was.. Barely 7 months free at the point. Mostly starved, virtually no memories and only started to do things because I wanted them to and boom, there you were. Took everything I had not to go to you. "

"That would have been interesting, I remember leaving the building and feeling this compulsion.. It was odd. "

"Huh, maybe you can feel it too? And you wouldn't have been impressed, I didn't look my best."

"Impossible. Is this why I kept following you when you came to the area?" 

"I don't know. I thought this was fiction a few days ago." 

"So, what's the ward?" 

"It's easy, but there is the whole matching tattoo element." 

"I'm cool with that if you are?" 

Tony couldn't help blinking in shock as his Soldier chuckled at him, obviously dealing with this much better than Tony, grabbing a pair of soft lounge trousers and slipping them on before handing some to Tony. He felt odd not immediately adding a shirt to hide his arm, but he guessed that was the point when he didn't hand him one. He was telling Tony he didn't need to hide. But without words, effortlessly. He really had this being human thing down better than him. 

"Right, this is so weird, I mean, it's weird, right?" 

"Tony. You literally do magic. Magic, with beautiful gold whisps and sparks and I'm like a hun-" 

Tony kind of cut him off with a kiss and manoeuvred them so they fell back onto the bed. His Soldier wrapped his arms around him and manhandled them both into a comfier position, lying with their legs tangled on Tony's multiple, super soft blankets. He'd kind of kept his thing for all things soft, then discovered he wasn't alone with that craving for soft things. 

"What was that for doll?" 

"You like my magic." 

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't, it's gorgeous and warm and.. Yeah that." 

Tony's magic apparently was as much a sucker for praise as himself as it surged around him. Gold spreading from Tony's hands and winding around and down his Soldiers arms, stretching across his chest and back. Light sparks crackling anytime there was skin conduct. 

"Wow, you've never done that before." 

"Still haven't, that's my magic acting. It's not sentient so much, but it does do things on its own occasionally when I don't hold it back. Never like this before." 

"Maybe it's trying to tell us something?" 

"Yeah, it's not very subtle either, so, you sure you want to do this?" 

"Definitely." 

There wasn't ever a scrap of hesitation which utterly blew Tony's mind and from the soft smile he gave him, he was being obvious about his tells again. He slipped all the time around him Tony noticed, he'd feel bad about it if his Soldier wasn't just as expressive back. For two emotionless weapons, they both seemed to have a lot of confusing emotions. He picked his right arm, he doubted either of them wanted this on their left arms after all. He drew the complex ward on himself first so there weren't any surprises. 

"So what's going to happen?" 

"I draw this on both our wrists and we press them together. If we actually are soulmates, boom magic tattoos." 

"You have no idea, do you?" 

"Not a one, want to back out?"

"Never." 

He finished drawing the immensely complicated ward, the ones he developed were much less.. Swirly. The overly swirly nature had been why he created his own ward language in the first place after Dax started teaching him. Dax had not had an adequate answer for why shouldn't he just create a new language that was less... prissy. 'Huh' had been the response. 

His magic shimmering gold and slightly lit up on the ward. He wondered if he'd ever get used to drawing wards like this, and as the thin lines of gold connected he didn't think so. Everytime it was amazing, even more so as apparently his Soldier thought it was awesome too, he could almost feel his interest with how he was memorising every line. 

"Done." 

"Right, so?" 

With a bit of awkward fiddling, because lining up wrists with a person lying in front of you is not as super easy as you would think it was and they were both laughing by the time they got them into the correct position. They knew because magic basically exploded from their wrists, lunging for each other. From _both_ of their wrists. Tony's bright, shimmering gold burst out in thick bands and his Soldier's was pitch black with tiny silver shimmering specs, instead of thick bands, there were loads of thin, delicate bands that wove together and looked almost lace like. 

"Wow, that's so beautiful." 

"Is.. Is that really from me?" 

"Yeah, it is."

He raised his left hand, coming close enough to sense but not to interrupt what it was doing. It was definitely different to his, the scent was different and it felt soft like silk what his magic felt like live electricity. 

"That's coming completely from you, nothing to do with me." 

"I have magic?" 

"Yeah, you do." 

"What. What do I do with it. How do I do anything with it?" 

The lights started to settle as the magic slowly got absorbed into their skin. Even though he was pretty sure his Soldier didn't need to feed like him, when it got absorbed.. Well. He wondered if that was what it felt like when people absorbed his magic. He got a little dizzy and flushed by it. Eyelids drooping, but he stayed open enough to see the reaction had been noticed, and he eyes flared deep black which had a lazy smile across his face. 

"I can teach you. If you want?“

It would be nice to teach someone again, teaching Silver were some of his few good memories in those 5 years. 

"Definitely want. This is.." 

"Yeah." 

Tony ran his fingers over the black band, it had a 2 centimetre black solid band with occasional silver, shimmery dots that would be impossible in an actual tattoo, then on either side there was a lace like pattern made up of thin strands of pure black. It felt soft, silk like when he touched it and it smells exactly like his Soldier. 

"This feels like your magic, charged and tingly." 

He guessed his Soldier liked his too, as he kept running his fingers through it. His was 3 centimetres of pure, shimmering gold with wisps curling from the band up and down his wrist. 

When Dax had told him about magical tattoos he hadn't been too keen on the idea. Now he was coming around to the idea


	7. Vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever so sorry for vanishing there, migraine hit and left me semi useless :)
> 
> I think this chapter proves severe insomnia me really has to modes. Dark or tooth rotting fluff.
> 
> Also, I totally didn't accidentally post this as chapter 12 on Desires 😅. So, if you got weird notifications, very sorry!

"Tony, you can't just take a month off." 

"I'm pretty sure I can Pep, I did all of next months work in the last two weeks!" 

"Tony, how much have you slept?" 

"Not important, but we agree that I have a month off, yes?" 

"If you tell me why."

"So, I swung it with the Parole board for James to be relocated here for two weeks so I can fix that vile monstrosity slicing his arm up." 

"Wait. What?" 

"Hydra couldn't find a way to stop James arm healing over the metal components, so it basically routinely slices up all of the connecting areas." 

"Oh my god. OK. I'll sort this out, you.. You fix that." 

Pepper looked a little green but also like a woman on a mission, Siles looked equally as driven as Pepper stalked off, waiting until the click of her heels was far enough away. 

"So, have you shown Pepper yet?" 

He hadn't actually shown anyone yet, he'd kept it his little secret but tugged his sleeve up. He'd suspected the Demons would be able to smell the difference. 

"So he definitely has magic them?" 

"Not much yet, but I think it will get stronger in time. Mine definitely has." 

"Magic is like any other muscle. Some people genetically have more than others, but either way, the more you use it, the bigger it gets. Your time at Hydra made you like a professional where as most people spend a few hours at the gym a week. You lived in it. "

He chuckled at that, it was a nicer analogy than he could come up with. 

  
  


It was lunch the next day he showed Pepper and Rhodey. 

"Oh my god. You got a magic tattoo. Tones. This is so weird."

"When I said that, James reminded me that I do magic, so thinking something is weird when I literally do magic isn't a defense." 

"Why are you blushing. You never blush. I didn't know you could blush! Pep take a picture! Tell me _everything_!" 

"No pictures, I don't blush. And I'm not giving you a play by play of what happened." 

He had 4 people simultaneously raising their eyebrows at him, Vision at least was sat at the table and just smiling at the interaction. He was lucky Peter wasn't visiting today or he'd be done for. 

He did end up giving them a play by play for some of his evening. Not the entire night. 

The only part of the night he hadn't been a fan of was that he had to drive him back to the compound for 1am. Which was one of the reasons he'd been adamant about taking a full vacation. It wasn't something he did often apparently, and he figured he was due one. He'd been practically non stop since he came back from the dead, and whilst he had his goals, he didn't want to just work all the time. Not when he had things he'd like to do elsewhere. 

He'd been working on the basics for the arm, the new socket base was mostly complete. He just needed to go over it with his Soldier and find out what he'd like changing.

  
  


He had one last meeting with a bunch of idiots which Pepper had to repeatedly text him that no, he can't just stab annoying people in meetings. 

Tony's pretty sure if he did it once then he wouldn't need to stab boring people as they would avoid him. 

Dax and Rhodey were cooking, so he slouched on the breakfast bar until someone put some coffee in front of him. He lived with the best people. Rhodey had an extra kick in his step now too as last night he and Pepper finally took the modified Extremis Virus that he'd made for them. 

"Boss, the quinjet will arrive in hangar A in 5 minutes." 

He downed his coffee in one go, much to Rhodey's amusement. He was half out of his suit from his last meeting. Tie tossed… Somewhere. He hadn't been looking, he left the jacket and undid a few buttons on the way up to the new hangar, instantly feeling more relaxed. He waved to Natka as she expertly landed the jet. He leaned against the wall, fiddling with his cufflinks and pocketing them as Natka and his Soldier disembarked, he came out of his slouch to greet them.

"Ah darling Soldat and my little Natka, I assume the UN didn't give you too much trouble? How is the arm, still shocking you." 

"After a mild conflict we got the parties back to the table, good mission in all." 

Tony nodded, he figured as much, it was handy too. A conflict in the area would have been irritating for a few businesses he had his eyes on. Knowing the area was stabilising before others meant he could swoop in all the quicker. Or Pepper could, because _vacation_. The world could literally be ending and he wouldn't care for the next 4 weeks. 

Tony caught Rogers scent and wondered how long he was planning on lurking, rolling his eyes, Natka followed suit, he turned all of his attention to his Soldier.

"S'not too bad, bit zappy. "

Tony frowned, because he knew his version of the pain scale was not the one most sentient beings subscribed to. Which, serious case of the pot calling the kettle black, but one of his body parts wasn't torturing him on the regular. 

"In other words you are in moderate to severe pain all the time, yes?" 

"Maybe?"

"You don't have to hide your pain here darling, why don't we pop down to my lair and see if there is anything I can do tonight hmm? Good evening Rogers."

The man looked surprised that he'd spotted him. 

"Tony, just don't forget he is a person as well as tech?" 

Maybe if they'd been elsewhere. Maybe if this hadn't been Tony's home. Maybe if it had been anyone else, someone not his damned _soulmate_ , which, still weird. Maybe if it hadn't have been for a number of things maybe Tony wouldn't have seen red. The only thing keeping him in place was a strong arm on his shoulder, squeezing him tight. Instead of storming over and slamming a knife through the bottom of his jaw, he was calm, but his voice had a little more snarl to it. 

"What did you just say to me Rogers?" 

"It's just.. He's been through a lot when it comes to the arm. I don't want you to get carried away like you do."

"Get on the Quinjet and leave my premises right now." 

He needed him gone before his magic let itself be _known_ , Natka saw as much and practically hauled Steve onto the jet and got through the flight check in record time. Giving him a small wave as they set off. If he'd could have worked if, he'd have made it so she had stayed too, it had taken several favours to get him his Soldier for two weeks. He definitely couldn't wait to have his people where he wanted them. Tony was usually a patient hunter, but he also wanted his Soldier sooner rather than later. 

When the hanger closed, Tony slumped. 

"You can let go now Doll." 

His magic lashed out, eyes seared gold and sparks flew, molten and shattering across the floor, some golden bands wrapped around his Soldier, instantly seeking his shoulder, needing an outlet and with his soldier so close, soothing his pain was priority and helped stave of anything more dangerous. Black tendrils answered his rage without his Soldier controlling it, their magic had done that twice now, reaching out for each other without him nor his Soldier doing anything. The black tendrils soaked into Tony who groaned and relaxed, turning pliant as the mixed magic finally calmed down. That was a record time for Tony calming down from a rage, the shortest had been 9 hours and that was because Dax knocked him unconscious. 

"Oh, we are definitely keeping him." 

"Darling, this is Dax. Dax, this is my Soldier. But you can't call him that." 

He didn't move from his place curled into his Soldiers chest, he was comfortable and kind of dozy now. 

"Hi, heard a lot about you, you can call me James, or Yasha." 

"We've heard so much about you, it's ridiculous." 

"Hey, I'm right here you know, just.. Sleepy." 

"Come on, bring the sleepy Tony upstairs." 

His soldier snickered and he felt more than saw himself get manoeuvred into the lift. 

"So, what did the idiot say to snap him into a rage?"

"He decided to accuse him of only caring about my arm and that he'd forget I was attached to it whilst he worked on it." 

"And he left without a single stab wound, holy shit honey we are so keeping you." 

"Thanks?" 

Tony stood up, still a little dopey, but not at risk of passing out he figured. 

"Don't worry darling, you get used to Dax." 

"I'm sure I will." 

"Do you want to go down to the workshop first?" 

"I'm fine now, a huge chunk of your magic jumped at my arm, so it's warm and fuzzy." 

"OK, then we'll go after food, you can meet the family minus one. He'll probably turn up soon though." 

Rhodey and Siles were rushing around the kitchen, because without Tony or Dax, the two of them lost all composure and the ability to do things in an ordered fashion in the kitchen. It was actually hilarious how ridiculous they got. 

"James, glad to meet you in nicer territory!" 

"Hi Miss Potts." 

"Please, you can call me Pepper. Anyone who is good for Tony gets an automatic pass in my book. Tony. I have some things for you to sign." 

"Vacation. Paperwork doesn't exist on vacation." 

"Just these things and I promise, you absolutely nothing for 4 weeks. Promise." 

"Fine, can you handle introductions?" 

At least the pile wasn't huge he thought as he started reading. He kept one eye to the kitchen as he did. Dax was trying to restore some semblance of order to the abject chaos that had erupted whilst he'd been gone, Pepper introduced everyone. He could tell that the demons were more than a little hyper that he'd finally brought his Soldier home to see them. 

As he'd been holding his magic under tight wards recently, his magic was antsy and Tony figured it was like the cat that kept tipping glasses off of tables. He sent out a spark towards his Soldier, which calmed it down and he returned to his paperwork. 

He knew he'd catch some raised eyebrows for that later, Tony was quite notorious for never sending his essence more than a few centimeters from his hands, but his Soldier had been his exception for a while. Although he hadn't actually told the demons about that first instance. 

"So, I kind of expected you both to be more…" 

"Demony? Like tails and horns?" 

Tony snorted at that image before ducking his head behind his paperwork. 

"We were around first, religion decided to add features. The full name is Demonfyre. We're pyromancers, similar to Pepper now really. I have mid range magical abilities too which came in handy training Tony. He didn't come with a guide book." 

"Woooo. I'm a unique fucked up lab experiment." 

"Yes but your our lab experiment now Tones." 

"Aww, thanks Rhodey-bear." 

After about 10 more minutes, his Soldier ducks out of the kitchen and leans against him. 

"I'm suddenly way more impressed about your stories of being the head chef here. It's like world war 6 in there." 

"What happened to 3, 4 and 5?"

"They've already happened." 

"I'm going to be to see the FRIDAY recordings. I am now finished with work. Nothing at all for 4 _whole_ weeks, the only work will be on your arm. I'm all yours." 

"I think I like the sound of that." 

"I'm going to get changed, I can show you where to unpack too. "

He placed his hand on the metal arm to see how the magic was holding and added a little more. 

It also might have taken an hour to unpack. Even if he only brought a gym bag full of clothes. That was the story and Tony was sticking to it. Tony also had FRIDAY order him some new clothes. The stipend they were given over at the compound wasn't huge, but it didn't help that his Soldier tended to spend the bulk of his on blankets and guns. As such the bag of clothes he brought was woefully small. 

Dinner was quite nice, considering the several disasters. Rhodey's apron was half burned too. The ridiculous thing was both Rhodey and Siles were brilliant cooks. But they tended to need someone else there or they tried to do everything out of order, at the same time. Put them together? Chaos. 

After dinner they watched a movie before heading down to the workshop. As Tony had spent the movie dozing against a soldier shaped pillow with his legs across Dax, he was quite well rested. He'd been worried that their cuddle puddle movie habit would not have been appreciated, but it turned out demons are very snugglable even to his Soldier. He also got on amazingly with Rhodey, he wasn't sure about this new side of Pepper, but after he realised that the Pepper that visited the compound to yell at Rogers about paperwork was nothing like the Pepper getting a foot massage from Rhodey nibbling daintily on breadsticks, they'd get on great. He and Vision even had a 10 minutes not conversing, sitting next to each other in silence. It was odd, but they both enjoyed it, so that's all that matters. 

"And this is my lair." 

"Holy crap this.. This is literally out of a sci fi novel. This is so cool!"

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, he'd been worried that his lab might have been too lab like. That it might remind him of Hydra. It was larger, he'd extended and added new sections. He tried to keep the 'magic' and the 'science' sections separate at first, but that was a losing battle Tony was having with himself. Every week he was finding ways to incorporate his magic with the tech, not only that. He was finding ways to incorporate the tech into the pure magic areas. 

He brought up his preliminary files on the socket first. 

"Okay, I need some scans, and whilst this is not an excuse to get you half naked in my lab, I am very happy about the outcome." 

He grinned as he shucked his shirt as he did a quick examination gold wrapped around his fingers so he could heal and reduce pain as he went. 

"I can't believe you've completely redesigned it! Do you ever sleep. "

"Eh, sleep is a concept I rarely subscribe to." 

"Hmm, so you don't want to fall asleep with me as a pillow tonight them. Alright, I'll sleep alone.. In that huge cold bed." 

"Hmm, I'm sure you could convince me to join you." 

They got a decent amount of work done before, it wasn't often Tony found people who had a head for maths and a level of spatial awareness that bordered on FRIDAYs. As much as he might have complained, curled up in bed, well fed, warm was better than any engineering binge. Not that he'd let anyone else know. That he managed more than two hours of sleep without nightmares had him positively hyperactive on waking up. 

A big portion of the two weeks was actually waiting. He could build everything in a few days, but he couldn't just pull the old socket off and whack the new arm on, hey presto. 

Well, he could, but that would be horrifyingly painful and a bit to much Hydra. 

With a little, well, a lot of magic, they don't need to wait between removing the old socket and replacing the new one. The surgery took around 18 hours to fully untangle the utter mess that was Hydra hardwiring the damned thing to his nerves are brain. Another surgery was required to fully remove all the support struts that were there to counterbalance the face the arm was too heavy. 

After 2 days of recovery for them both from the surgery, because channelling that much energy constantly left Tony a little singed. Anytime he summoned his magic he was flinching from the pain. 

His Soldier rallied fast, his serum and own magic working much better now they aren't tied up trying to deal with the mess of that socket. Pepper sends them out to pick up something that didn't actually exist which was how they found themselves on an actual date, slightly confused about how it happened. 

In a way it was an utter disaster. 

In a way, it was completely perfect. 

They missed the movie because they got distracted by a food cart serving ridiculously colourful baked goods that probably had enough food colouring in to turn their insides purple. They missed the restaurant reservations because they found an arcade and that was how he discovered that his Soldier was hypercompetitive. Even against claw machines. He emptied 3 of them on principle before the manager chased them out with a broom and then they ended up in the children's ward giving out stuffed toys. Tony kept a little white wolf that had been the first win because it was cute. After that, they'd ended up in a park on honest to god swings. 

Pepper and Rhodey were slightly confused that they missed all of the reservations and somehow ended up in a children's ward but accepted that corralling chaos was a fool's errand. 

Peter turned up after the second operation, Tony left them alone for 5 minutes with Rhodey and came back to them making sandwiches with Nutella, candy floss and marshmallows they exploded in the poor innocent microwave and he decreed that the three of them were never to be left unsupervised ever again. 

His Soldier would definitely be returning with more than a single bag of clothing, as Peter had been horrified at the extent of his wardrobe. Taking the pair of them shopping and getting to spoil people made Tony very happy. 

The 'Get James a Hobby' quest spiraled into complete and utter insanity and ended up with all of them trying hobbies they'd never considered. 

Also, they were a bunch of hypercompetitive idiots with too much energy. 

He was restoring a motorbike with himself, knitting with Pepper. Watching him beat the ever living daylights out of Rhodey in chess had resulted in a half loss day of hobbies but he seemed quite happy with that. Peter apparently thought fencing was a good idea, everyone watched that, then somehow they all got involved. This spiraled to other weapons, as he and his Soldier took it as a challenge.

Lazer tag with a bunch of hypercompetitive semi-immortal powered individuals went about as well as you'd imagine, everyone slept very well that night and Tony had to practically buy the arena as they kind of destroyed it. A day paintballing was even worse. At one point he saw his Soldier hanging upside down by his thighs in a tree so he could shoot Rhodey. Rhodey is a sneak at paintballing, he is rarely found but apparently all he needed was a soldier. Pepper was not so surprisingly lethal to make up for his soldier advantage. He and Rhodey couldn't quite work out if bringing partners to their hobby was an advantage or oh my god, we're going to die. Turns out both of them have a competence kink a mile wide and extremely competent partners. 

Dax somehow turned calligraphy into a competitive sport and somehow all of them got involved again. Bets were placed and Tony was still trying to work out the level of chaos from writing pretty letters. However going up against the guy who grew up in the 30s writing in cursive probably should have keyed them in that they would all lose. Pepper drew with James. At one point they were even weaving on looms whilst watching the Lord of the Rings extended edition and Tony had a strange moment where he disassociated, everything was just comfortable and nice and he couldn't quite get his head around what was happening. His Soldier carted them off to their room for a while so Tony could come back to himself without freaking out. 

It was nice, and very strange. 

He and his Soldier did slip out to do a few jobs here and there, because they were itching for something a little less family friendly. With his tracking bracelet on Rhodey, they didn't roll in until 9am. They're greeted with pancakes because this family is awesome. 

They even got him started on his GED and looking at what other courses he might take after. 

Tony is pretty sure he did more in those two weeks than he had in 6 months and most of it was hilarious. It irritates him moderately that his Soldier did more in those two weeks since he escaped from Hydra. As far as he's concerned, they were doing a pretty crappy job at looking after him at the compound. So, he's his now. When he brings that up, he just smiled and called Tony an idiot. 

Most of the arm is built, the final surgery goes perfectly well and in a few days they should be able to shift focus fully to the arm. 

Spending two weeks at the compound is something he is concerned about. It's not like the witch could overpower him anymore, or even get into his head, but if a fight got serious then he would end up outing himself. 

They didn't get the arm finished as they got distracted on a few different toys, in other words, his Soldier found the server devoted to riffles and promptly fell in love with it. Tony apparently seemed to be unable to deny him pretty much anything that he remotely smiled at and ended up making plans for different gear. 

The final day is spent with alcohol and board and card games Peter brought. Which should have told them to run there really. Again, hypercompetitive idiots playing Cards against Humanity was fine. Hilarious, nigh traumatising, and his Soldier loved every second of it. Munchkin was just ridiculous and Talisman lasted for 5 hours. Peter suggested monopoly at one point, and it was resoundly shot down by everyone. 

He didn't need to be dragged to bed that night because Tony wasn't going to miss that chance. He crawled under the several super soft blankets without much anxiety and they spent a slow night just enjoying themselves. 

Tony decided that this was just a snapshot of how things would be in the future, and that made the idea of going to the compound, living in the same space as Rogers and the Witch tolerable. 

"Thanks for this Tony." 

"Thanks for what?" 

"All of these two weeks. Every insane, hypercompetitive, chaotic family activity. I loved it."

"Me too, you're part of this hypercompetitive chaotic family now to you know." 

"I didn't think I'd be safe to be truly part of something, Steve tried, but he was more interested in turning me into Bucky than letting me be myself, just, as I am now. For me to _get over_ what happened at Hydra and just put it behind me. Him yelling at me if I told him that concise orders feels safe on missions… he just.. "

"He can't understand. He didn't go through it. He wants you to go back to what he remembered but that isn't going to happen. Even if I suddenly got back every memory, I've changed too much. Rhodey told me that just because he misses how I was doesn't mean he doesn't want to get to know me now. We all change as move through life, what happened to us.. It can't be ignored."

"No, it can't be ignored." 

"Instead we make sure it never happens again, we make sure no one controls us, but us. We make ourselves stronger and no one will ever trap us again." 

Tony felt the smooth warmth of his magic and answered it with a crackle of his own, sighing slightly. 

"You've given me something I thought impossible."

"What's that darling?"

"Safety." 

"I'll give you anything you want darling, all you need to do is desire it." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like all the random cooking things I've included in this, the hobbies see amusing real life anecdotes the insomnia version of me included. 😂
> 
> The paintball thing, because it was hilarious. No one expected the disabled red head to climb a tree, hang upside down to shoot these two sneaks. I got awarded a tshirt and everything. I figure that was totally the kind of thing James would do.


	8. Compound

"I can carry that you know, I have two arms." 

His Soldier just smirked at him as he hefted the huge, large bags over his shoulder as if the weighed nothing. But then the two his was dragging along casually would be difficult for even a strong person to move. Tony hadn't actually brought much of his own stuff, he'd had FRIDAY buy some stuff and had Natka dump it in his room. So most of these new bags belonged to his Soldier. Tony's bedroom back at the penthouse also had quite a few articles of clothing that were not his. 

"You are already carrying two, it's the least I can do." 

"Oh don't start that again darling." 

He rolled his eyes as they walked up to the lift, the smirk told him that he was doing it on it purpose to wind him up. As he didn't have any hands free, he dropped his head to his Soldiers shoulder, nipping him gently. 

"So where is your room here? I had scoped out most of the compound when I moved in." 

"Hmm, ever counted the windows outside and the number of floors..?" 

"No actually. Although that does sound like something I'd do." 

They laughed at that, he knew they were being watched, could feel Steve's eyes on his and smell his confusion as the doors slid shut he sighed in relief. That was going to get old. Fast. 

They stopped on his Soldiers floor first to put most of his cases into his bedroom. Keeping one packed with clothes as they went up to Tony's floor. He had no memories of this place at all, so they dumped their bags and did a security check, each doing half of the room. It was possibly the highest type of praise, trust and respect either of them could bestow upon another person that they didn't check each others sections. 

Tony investigated what had been left, tossing items that could never fit him. He didn't actually get anything unpacked as apparently his Soldier was bored waiting and slid his hands under his shirt. Tony's magic reached for him, he knew they'd have to be careful when they were here, but right now they were alone. When his Soldier made an attempt at summoning his own magic, tentative and seeking Tony knew he was done for. He couldn't see the shadow tendrils but he gasped, head falling back into his chest as they sunk in. 

Pretty much the first thing his Soldier had been interested in learning was how to do this on command and Tony had been the obvious test partner. Well, no one expected them downstairs straight away, and when teeth sank into his neck it took effort to think about anything but this room. 

  
  


He didn't know how many hours it was later when he woke up, shuddering at the memory, his skin on his back feeling tight but he felt.. Good. It took a second to see his Soldier drawing pattern on his chest with shadows and star light as he chuckled. 

"I think that was the best way to wake up from a nightmare, thank you darling." 

"Anytime Tony." 

They lay there for a little while longer, just giving himself a chance to breathe, Tony's nose in his hair, surrounding himself with his scent until their stomachs reminded them that they'd missed lunch. They both slipped back into the clothes they were wearing and headed to the lifts, staying in each others space right up until the doors opened and they headed to the kitchen. 

"Did my delivery come?" 

"Sure, came this morning, I put everything away." 

"Awesome, I'm cooking as our darling Soldat here wants me to teach him to make pasta." 

Natka perked up immediately, a huge smile on her face. He didn't remember, but she'd told him that he used to cook very rarely back in the tower and she'd never missed a meal. 

"You're cooking?" 

"See, there is a resounding vote of confidence if I ever saw one. You know how high my little Natkas standards are." 

His Soldier hummed contentedly, looking very much like the cat that got the cream as Tony pulled Natasha in for a hug. He noted that Sam looked a little nervous but poked his head into the kitchen. 

"Did I hear fresh pasta?" 

"Yup, Pappardelle with Beef Shin and Barolo Wine Ragù. Sound good?" 

He looked a little baffled but enthusiastic, Tony could work with that. If he was cooking, he liked to pull others into the process too. It was one activity where he didn't struggle as much when dealing with people outside of his inner circle. He was completely in control to which helped. 

"I'm just going to say yes?" 

Tony chuckled before getting ingredients out and started a few things going before starting to make the pasta. Explaining each step, ingredients and equipment as he went. 

"Tomorrow when we aren't starving, I'll get all three of you making some." 

"Can I use a bowl, the idea of mixing it on the bench seems nerve racking." 

"You'll be fine Sam, if I can not make a mess then you'll be fine." 

He felt Wanda approached and his eyes flicked to his Soldier, he understood that Tony had felt her, giving him a good 20 seconds before she came into sight, he nodded, but his eyes tightened minutely. It was a near thing that kept gold from sparking in Tony's eyes in reaction. 

"What's going on?"

"Bucky came home, I think Tony is staying to finish his arm." 

"He can't just walk into our home and stay without consulting us!" 

Tony's frown deepened with his growing irritation, he slid a hand down his Soldiers arm, sending a small spark of magic that no one could see. Causing his shoulders to loosen, Tony kept his eyes on Steve. Making sure he knew he was unimpressed. 

"I was going to say something, but who knows if Bucky will get permission to go to the Tower again? I don't want him stuck with one arm." 

His jaw ticked slightly and he figured now was a good a time as ever to clear this up. 

"Right my beautiful assistants, I'm going to go guys get changed into something more comfortable. Can you be trusted not to burn dinner in a 10 minutes I will be gone for?" 

Sam looked nervous, but he knew the others would keep him from burning the compound down. His Soldier had been in the kitchen with Siles and Vision on several occasions. After dealing with them, anyone else was easy. 

"Don't worry Birdbrain, Natka won't let you burn anything, she's my taskmaster you see. No one better. "

He ran his hand up his Soldiers arm and down his back amused as his eyes darkened, gave Natka a quick hug as he passed and squeezed Sam's shoulder. The tension the three were carrying dissipated at the contact as he headed back to the elevators. 

He kept his voice low as he waited, knowing only Steve would hear him and enjoying the scent of irritation that coiled around him. That he could pick it up from the hall was highly amusing. 

"You might want to remind your pet witch that you do not own this building, nor this land. I allow you to live on my property, in my building, that I furnished. For free might I add. Food for thought Roger's, don't piss off the landlord. Especially one who doesn't charge rent and pays all of your utilities."

The doors slid shut as he was whisked back to his floor. He liked that the floor was pretty well set with his and his Soldiers mixed scents, especially the bedroom with the messy, unmade bed they'd left. He pulled out some general comfortable clothing before heading back downstairs. He clipped the cover onto his left arm seeing as he had a t-shirt on. 

He checked where each of them were with their instruction ls, updating and changing as needed. 

"We definitely need to get you some practice with your knife work Sam." 

"I'm pretty sure mine only looks bad because I'm up against the assassin twins." 

He grinned as his right and left hands showed just how dexterous they could be with their blades. 

"That your knife is dangerously blunt isn't helping. By the time I'm finished with you Sam you'll be just as good."

"I'm not sure if that's a threat or a promise?" 

That drew a slow smile out of him, he was starting to see why Natka was so interested in the man. 

"Why can't it be both?" 

"Hear that Barnes, I'm gonna kick your ass at dicing tomatoes!"

"Sure you are buddy, you might even have a chance whilst I only have one hand. It's quite hard to chop things you can't hold." 

"Don't worry darling, I'll quite happily stand in for your left hand." 

Tony couldn't let such an easy line pass as he winked at his Soldier, enjoying the flush that started at the man's neck as he ran his tongue over his teeth. At this rate everyone in a hundred miles would pick up on something. Sam seemed happily oblivious, whether he actually was, he didn't know and Natka just smiled softly and rolled her eyes. 

"That is nearly finished, so move it to the back and get the pasta ready, it only takes 4 minutes to cook." 

The three of them were quick and carried out his instructions to the letter. He could feel Wanda's wariness at accepting food from him, so he practically made it so she couldn't say no without seeming rude. Smiling sweetly as he lined up a next lot of Hydra greatest hits in his memories every time she took a peak. She was trying to dig deeper each time, even though his turbulent memories had to be playing hero with her senses.

"I know you aren't a big fan of new foods, but I remembered a few dishes you liked and this was similar." 

He knew his Soldier would prefer her gone, but he also knew what Tony was doing. He pushed his leg closer, looping a foot around his ankle and nudging his trouser leg up, using the skin contact to send a low level hum of magic. He couldn't risk too much with Ms Witch bitch on the other side of the table. It was the magical equivalent of 'I'm here, it's OK.' He saw him soften at that, a lightning fast smile before eating his food. 

Dinner was a quiet affair compared to the penthouse, there everyone was incredibly tactile. It had started with himself and Dax. His magic made him crave contact and demonfyres are intensely tactile compared to humans. So Siles quickly joined, then Rhodey and Pepper. Peter had quickly adapted and his Soldier found that cuddle puddles were some of the best things in the world when he realised he was welcome. So this dinner was strange, but contact with his Soldier helped. He could see that he was also missing the penthouse too. 

"Tooony…" 

"Hmm, yes darling?" 

He smirked, knowing full well what he was after. 

"Can you make that dessert again, the one you made after we went paintballing." 

"Hm, I don't know, can I?" 

As if he could deny him anything when he broke out the pout and the sad eyes. 

"Please, the chocolate pie thing was so good, I've been dreaming of that pie Tony. It haunts me, taunting me." 

"I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking on my little vacation, aren't I?" 

"Definitely, especially if you make that dessert." 

"Hmm, I shall check what ingredients we have and then we work out what I'm getting in return." 

Tony smirked, standing and walking backwards into the kitchen, winking at his Soldier and running his tongue across his teeth again before busying himself searching the cupboards. After he discovered that he was slightly addicted to chocolate, he'd added a number of things to his shopping list at the compound. 

"You done Steve? I'll take that through." 

"I can take it." 

"I'm already up, it's fine."

His Soldier grabbed the remaining cutlery and scooped up the plates passing them to Natasha who was washing as Sam was drying. 

"So, are you going to make all my dreams come true doll?" 

If that wasn't an opening he didn't know what was as he discreetly tugged him over to stand next to him by his belt loops. Both of them were having far too much fun playing. 

"Of course I am darling, it's what I do isn't it? You going to be my beautiful assistant again." 

"Of course, it's not going to be Sam now is it?" 

"Hey! You two are a nightmare, your as bad as each other. Keep this up and I'll find a newspaper to roll up and whap you with." 

He jumped when Natka caught him with the towel, sliding closer to his Soldier to use him as a shield of course. Not to press up against him and wind him up. 

"Natka, your aim is lethal, but if you want some of this, redirect it at Sam." 

"Huh, what? No!" 

No one seemed to notice that they stood a little too close as he made the dessert. 

The queued up a movie as he finished up, and if he gave his Soldier a larger slice than anyone else, no one seemed to notice. Well, except his Soldier. He definitely noticed. 

Steve wandered off to check on Wanda and Tony switched around people's seating. Natka smiling as she settled her head in his lap. He finger combed her hair out as his Soldier perched on the chair above him, bracketing him with his legs. Sam seemed unconcerned with the physical contact which was definitely a good sign and his Soldier hand slipped into his shirt. Massaging and sending little wisps of magic his way. Steve returned for a few seconds but quickly left again. 

His self control lasted for precisely two movies. Which, with his hands and magic slowly, constantly keeping him on edge, he could say that that was a damned miracle. 

Sam raised an eyebrow in question when they rose to head to bed at the same time. He could smell the guys interest and amusement, but also a layer of happiness wound into it as well. So he'd assumed they were possibly sleeping together, but was happy for his friend. He had FRIDAY on the lookout to see if he told Steve.. If he didn't, well, the probability of luring this little bird from the nest increased. 

He waited until the elevator doors closed before turning, letting his eyes flood with gold as he slowly backed his Soldier up, pulling his neck down to kiss him, long and hard. When the doors opened and he pulled back, the whine of protest and his steel blue eyes flooded with black had him smirking until he was all but dragged to the bedroom. 

The compound would be tolerable with a Soldier in his bed. 

  
  
  


*******

"Sing for me Gold?" 

" _ Cold as a valley _

_ Where I lay my head _

_ Cold as a woman _

_ On another man's bed.“ _

It was dark, but then it was always dark as he sat in the room that someone called a canteen. It was a wide, open room with long tables. People were perched along it, he was sat cross legged on the table itself, arm curled around his bowl of lukewarm porridge that he was eating with an entire slice of bread. The man he fought for the double portion and bread was bleeding about a hundred metres to his left. 

" _ Down in the forest _

_ With the devil in me _

_ I remember the looks on their faces _

_ Through the sycamore trees."  _

He could still smell the blood. He ate fast between verses, so no one would get the same idea as him. 

Luke warm porridge meant they wanted the experiments to have energy. 

Which meant that tonight they'd be chucking them into the pits. He wasn't surprised, there was new blood in the waters. He'd picked up at least 7 new scents since he entered. 

Silver was up against him, as they sat back to back. He told Silver things he picked up with his senses and Silver told him what he saw. Their hands occasionally meeting with sparks of gold and silver magic. Their third was checked out on mission. 

_ "Ain't no chariots of fire _

_ Come to take me home _

_ I'm lost in the woods _

_ And I wander alone."  _

"You're new here." 

He tilted his head, picking up Greens scent. He liked to scout of the new guys, pretend to be helpful, be their friend. Find out their weaknesses. It worked for the man, he rarely smelled hungry. 

"What of it?" 

Green was amused, this new guy had had eyes on him since he'd entered. Could feel him sizing him up. 

"Pick a different target." 

"Why, he's small, crippled and his singing is fucking annoying." 

He smirked, tilting his head in their direction as he scraped the last bits of food from his bowl before standing up on the table, tapping his feet to the music in his mind. No one stopped him singing in the Charnel House. 

_ "Hellfire, hellfire _

_ Take my soul" _

"Those are 3 reasons you shouldn't go near Gold. Look at the size of everyone in here, look at his brand. See how low his number is? He's been here the longest. You see anyone else wearing a blindfold? There is a  _ reason _ kid." 

_ "I'm waiting, waiting _

_ I'm ready to go. " _

No one stopped him because it scared the fuck out of them, even the guards, that he could still do it. 

"The singing?" 

_ "Mothers, children _

_ Lock your doors _

_ I'm waiting _

_ I'm ready to go."  _

"Try and think of a song. Any song you ain't heard Gold sing." 

Green goes silent as he lets the new guy think. He carries on singing and lets gold spark at his hand as Silver reaches out to him. 

" _ Burn in an alleyway _

_ Through a dead end street _

_ Murdering promises that I just can't keep"  _

The dark keeps him sharper than anyone here. The dark has been his world for many years, he doesn't know. That's not information he saves, it's unimportant. 

" _ We could sing pretty melodies _

_ On the unmade bed _

_ Slow dancing to a silhouette _

_ 'Cause I ain't dead yet." _

"How?" 

He turns to face the new kid and bares his teeth in a facsimile of a smile, the acrid scent of fear hits him from multiple locations, he tosses his head back and ups the volume, smiling and laughing that makes others edge away from him. All except Silver who laughs along, and Snipe when he is here. 

_ "Ain't no chariots of fire _

_ Come to take me home _

_ I'm lost in the woods _

_ And I wander alone."  _

"I don't got a clue kid, no one does." 

He feels the guards move, getting ready to call the bell as he leaps and lands in front of the new guy perfectly. He clattered back to get away from him, dropping his tray and his bread went flying. He snatched it out of the air, turning to head for the door a few seconds before the bell gets everyone on their feet. Tearing it in half. 

_ "Hellfire, hellfire _

_ Take my soul _

_ I'm waiting, waiting _

_ I'm ready to go."  _

"Fuck. What was that?!" 

"That, was Gold. You don't fuck with Gold. They blind him and he sees more than anyone here." 

Silver slides up to him, his arm hanging over his shoulders as he slung an arm around his waist. He hands him half of the bread. They knew they'd be forced to fight soon, but they still hung on for comfort. He kept up the chorus the whole way to the pits. 

_ "Hellfire, hellfire _

_ Take my soul _

_ I'm waiting, waiting _

_ I'm ready to go."  _

*****

" Tony, wake up. "

He registered a light shaking, a soothing voice and soft smooth magic as he opened his eyes. Everything was black and his breath came quicker. No, not this. 

"FRIDAY, lights." 

The light made him blink as his Soldier put his hand on his chest. Just breathing until it slowed down. That dream was like a knife slipped under his ribs. 

"You with me?" 

"Yeah. I'm fine." 

His Soldier wipes tears that Tony didn't know he'd shed from his cheeks, he hadn't even known he could cry. 

"Liar." 

Tony smiled at that, stronger than his previous smile and he burrowed into his neck. Wrapping his scent around him and feeling the hum of their linked magic. 

"You don't have to tell me." 

"It wasn't anything big. A bunch of new blood got sent in. Barely 2 or 3 wipes, some of them still smelled practically baseline. One was eyeing me up as an easy target. He found my singing annoying, I was short and blindfolded. Green, his shtick was to go after the greenies. Befriend, learn their weaknesses and then use them against them. He was warning him off attacking me. "

" Pretty stupid if you ask me. You were the only one blindfolded, means something different. Something dangerous. "

"That's what Green said. That, and the singing. Silver liked me singing. He was the closest thing I had to a brother or friend in there. I always sang when he asked. Scared the shit out of everyone."

His Soldier frowned and turned his head. 

"Why?" 

"Because I always sang. Even just after being wiped." 

"Ah, yeah. I get it. Is that why you still hum?"

He nodded, music had been how he kept information through the purges. It also made people fucking terrified of him. That he could remember when the chair took everything. It wasn't free though, everything has a cost. 

"What happened to him?" 

"The newbie?" 

"No, Tony. Silver, the reason why you're crying." 

He burrowed further into his neck, feeling the sting in his eyes that he breathed past. 

"I don't know. We all had a shtick you see in the old guard. Mine was knowing shit I shouldn't, but I never found out where Silver went. He was checked out for a mission one day when I was gone, and he never came back. Then Snipe came back from the White room in pieces. I was dragged there for 2 weeks after kicking off, eventually got checked out to a different medical base. Trying to replicate my magic I think when they realised I was cracking, fracturing, shattered. A guard thought it would be funny to have Snipe brought in from the morgue."

"Fuck." 

"Yeah. They were my anchors, Silver could help bring my magic down and he was smart, Snipe was fast, made us laugh. Without them, I snapped. They thought I'd already broken, already lost it. They were very wrong. After that, something in me broke and it won't ever go back again." 

He wrapped his arms around him. Tight. Tony waited for the claustrophobia, but when nothing came he relaxed into the hold. It felt like it was holding the fractures together. 

"That when you escaped? We worked that case. "

"Sorry, left a bit of a mess. Did you find the handler I buried by the tree? I couldn't kill him, but I pinned him and hung a blade above his face. All I had to do was drop it, unless he complied. I made him dig his grave, he thought it was for snipe, by the time I'd finished packing the earth, I bet he wished I could have killed him."

His Soldier snorted and he found himself smiling. 

"Not a problem doll, ain't ever gonna see me crying over sliced up Hydra. We didn't go digging, I enjoyed working that job. Wish I'd been able to do something like it." 

"Hm, if I find anymore bases we can both go. Make a date of it." 

"I'd like that. You have the best date ideas doll. You can show me how you never left a lick of evidence too." 

"Magic, that and they burned our fingerprints. They did a shit job of mine though, my thumb healed. I always left a thumb print, but no one ever found it." 

He ran his fingers across the smooth pads of Tony's, just his thumb was different. 

"Shit doll. I'm sorry." 

"Hey, it's not your fault. 1 tiny print, usually high up on a ceiling tile? The chances of you guys finding it was pretty low." 

"Ahh, so that's how you got in to most of those impossible cases. Can I ask a question?" 

"Sure thing Darling." 

"Why did only some of your kills have crushed jewellery?"

"They were my handlers. Checking me out became a prestige in itself after a while. Handlers who had me would wear an item of gold jewellery to show off to other Hydra officers that they'd had me do their dirty work."

"Thats fucked up." 

"Can't agree with you more darling. So every handler I hunted, I ripped their gold and maimed them with it." 

"Good." 

"That's what I love about you darling, you don't flinch or ignore what I did those two years." 

"And how could I not love the man who ripped through Hydra?" 

He felt something in him settle as his Soldier ran his fingers through his hair. 

"You'll find Silver eventually Tony. Or you'll find out what happened. I have faith in that." 

"Thanks darling." 

They stayed like that until Tony found himself drifting again, his Soldier keeping his movements slow and repetitive to push him into sleep, he even left the light on and Tony wondered what he'd done to deserve this. Wondering about a future where he could introduce his Soldier to Silver. 

_ Hellfire - Barns Courtney _


	9. Ally

He woke up, warm and fuzzy this time. Slowly pulled to consciousness by light bites to his neck. 

"Morning Doll, I have to go running with Steve. He's probably going to bitch about Wanda." 

"You can't wake me up like than and then leave me here like this, unless you'd rather be running with Rogers whilst I take care of things alone." 

His Soldier moved quickly to brace himself above him, pressed in close. 

"That's why I woke you up earlier." 

"Hmm, forward thinking. I like." 

He still managed to make him be late, but that was hardly Tony's fault. Sharing showers is a good way to conserve water.

  
  


He did his morning exercises, dressed and skipped the common room, his Soldier would likely bring him food or drag him to food after his run. Sam wasn't in the workshop yet, so he just chucked himself completely into work. Loud music blaring as he worked on a few things. Sam organised his shop well. 

He didn't know how long it was, but he felt someone enter the place. He was still a little on edge after last night's conversation. So his brain registered that it wasn't his Soldier and he reacted by hurling a knife that Sam just moved out of the way in time. His eyes wide as he looked at the knife, buried to the hilt in the metal strut around the door. The music cut off. 

"Ah, sorry there. Bad night has me on edge." 

He crossed the room and tugged the knife free, wiped it down with his shirt and slipped it back into the sheath at his belt. Sam saw that it wasn't alone, but he didn't look judgey. 

"It's understandable man. After what you went through? I mean, not that I know much about it or anything, but I.." 

Tony turned to face the man, he had a feel of curiosity about him. But it wasn't curiosity for curiosity's sake. A scent he was only just beginning to recognise on others as interest and care. 

"You can ask." 

"I figured it was all classified. Steve tried to find out, he couldn't even find the name of the facility or what they did." 

"You asking for Steve, or for yourself?" 

Sam sat down on a stool next to him as he stopped to consider the question. Tony gave him credit for not answering without really thinking about it or lying to him. 

"Me, and you. Talking is good, but what your asking is will I tell Steve? Then no. Anything you tell me is private." 

Truth to. He nodded, impressed, but needed to let the man know what he was getting himself in for. He had discovered that not everyone could handle the details of the Charnel House. 

"I made the therapist at the government facility pass out. When I was taken from the base, suited me up in a straight jacket. Bolted to the floor and asked me what a regular day was, he blacked out on me." 

"Shit." 

"Still want to know? I won't think less of you if you say no." 

"Yeah. You're my friend, at least I'd like to think we are heading that way, and thing huge thing happened to you. Talking helps, might not feel like it at the time, but it does. Anything you want to say. I'll listen."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, he wasn't sure why he was considering this. He did feel better talking to his Soldier about Silver, but that was different. He understood. Sam… Sam was never an asset. Sam had never been remade, cut down, changed. Never seen the chair. 

"It was called The Charnel House. When you first get in, they send you to the white room, where the doc. I called him Weasel, would test different serums on you. The chair, to get a lasting effect at least, needs altered humans. From the white room you get locked up in the black cells. There you see no one. Just back and forth until they figure you're changed enough to survive the chair. Initiation and you get wiped. Moved to the barracks with everyone else. The cells are left open, they stack us in so we'd fight. Whittle down the weak. Headmaster was a dick. "

That was possibly the… nicest version he could come up with. Explaining the testing and initiation made people uncomfortable. Especially the branding even though he still did not understand why that part affected people so badly. Along with his blindfold. People focused on the strangest details. 

"Hydra man, I think I've seen the worst they had to offer. Was it serums like Steve and James?" 

"Some, different kinds too. Weasel had a lot and many test subjects. The stronger your constitution. The more experiments they do on you. I had a recessive X Gene. It's how I survived Afghanistan. So I spent a very long time in the white room."

"Afghanistan?"

Oh. He assumed the team knew of his capture and events that happened after. 

"Bomb went off right in front of my chest after my father figure paid to have me assassinated. Open heart surgery in a cave with no anesthesia, big electromagnet stuck in my chest attached to a car battery to keep the shrapnel from shredding my heart, plus waterboarding. Didn't get a single infection." 

"What the fuck man." 

He shrugged, not like he actually remember much of Afghanistan now, but and pieces had come back. What he remembered was on the backdrop of the Charnel House. It didn't pack the same punch as it might have had before. 

"I don't remember much of it, I remember the feeling of the arc reactor in my chest, restricting my breathing. The taste of coconut and metal still comes to me occasionally." 

"Fuck man, how did I never know that this was inside you? That was huge!" 

"It was strange to find out, after watching the Siberia footage and seeing Rogers crush it with his shield, I felt this spike in my chest. Like a pain, but nothing was happening to me. I still do not understand it." 

"Phantom pain, sometimes the mind can trigger the pain. Especially if you had become accustomed to protecting it… Siberia? What happened in Siberia?"

"Oh. I assumed Rogers told you? I went there for some reason. I think to bring them in? It was a trap. They played a video of his, well, my parents being murdered by the Winter Soldier." 

"What?!" 

"The previous iteration of myself, watched with the two of them. Rogers tried to lie to him.. Me. That he hadn't known. He'd known since DC according to FRIDAY but I don't understand the relevance of that. The three of them fought. The previous iteration went easy on them, and Rogers left him in Siberia. The suit was without power. The previous iteration went alone, he didn't tell anyone. After, I believe, 22 hours. I was collected by an associate of a man called Dracker and was sold to The Charnel House. "

"What the fuck. Why didn't Steve tell me about this! Man, I'm so fucking sorry. I asked you to go. As a friend! To help Steve and James deal with 5 Winter Soldiers. It's my fault. Fuck, it's my fault this happened to you. You must hate me right now. There was years between DC and Siberia, he was lying to you for years." 

He frowned, because he didn't think it was his fault. He believed he was among friends. He also liked that Sam explained things to him that he didn't understand. Simple, quick explanations without making him feel like he didn't understand something.

"I do not hate you, but thank you for apologising. Rogers still believes he was in the right. The recessive X-gene is likely why I survived Siberia to. As the previous iteration wore a thin suit beneath the armour and had multiple severe injuries. It also made me a good test subject. I was blindfolded before being moved to the Barracks, I saw too much, they were worried I would escape. We shared a cell, small, but numbers are good."

Sam looked a little pale, but Tony had to give him his credit, he was still pretty solid. He was still focused completely on him, 

"Blindfolded? Why? Wouldn't that make things harder for you? Put you at a disadvantage?" 

"Is that why people react badly to me mentioning the blindfold?" 

"Yeah, you were already thrown into this awful situation where I'm guessing fighting for food and safety was normal?" 

"Yes, they didn't supply enough food, or water to force us to the showers." 

"That's already awful, but they took away your sight man. Meaning things would be even harder for you. Plus, most people have a fear of the dark." 

"Ah, I understand. Blindfolding me, by removing one of my senses, I gained an advantage. I learned to navigate without my sight, created maps in my mind. My other sense, either from the Weasels serums or to compensate are heightened. My sense of smell is vastly improved. I can smell emotions, weaknesses. I know where people are in a room, where they've beenI can feel air currents. My hearing is vastly higher than most people with the serum too, many small things. Blindfolding me gave me an advantage in the end. Plus, after I started winning, it scared the shit out of everyone. They took only one of my senses Sam, there are others."

"Fucking hell. That you survived is a damned miracle man. You said 'we shared a cell earlier'? You found people to trust there?" 

"We trained, they wiped us, we trained. We fought for scraps. Then Handlers would check us out like library books missions before tossing us back. The Weasel wanted me to die, so I survive to Rob him of that wish. I… had two friends. "

Sam zeroed in on that, leaning forward, going for an easy smile but it was obvious he was a bit shaken. He didn't quite understand, clearly the conversation was affecting him. He did not have to hear about what happened at the Charnel House. Tony didn't understand why he was doing it anyway. He didn't think Sam lied, do this wasn't to give Rogers information. It was strange. 

"Yeah? That must have been hard, in a place like that? What were they like? Did you know there names?"

"Silver, he had magic. I was told it was gorgeous, brown hair and pale eyes. I never saw him myself as we were never sent out together. He was like… a brother to me. Snipe, was great, made us laugh. They'd have me sing to scare the shit out of people. I trained them, mentored them. Helped them to survive. " 

"That is impressive man, that even there, wiped by that chair. That you found people and took them under your wing seems to be integral to you. Most people would just be looking out for themselves. I think I'm lucky you've added me to that, I want you to know how thankful I am for this opportunity Tony, it's something I've wanted but didn't know how to access. You've given me something to hold onto, been pretty depressed these past years you know. So. Why would singing scare people?" 

He liked that Sam was enjoying what he was teaching, he missed that. Teaching Snipe and Silver, even if the circumstances were not the best. He had genuinely enjoyed teaching them. 

"I like teaching, I think it's something that I inherited from the old me. The singing scared people because we all got wiped regularly, but I could remember things. It meant we got to eat in peace mostly. I could give them safety to eat. It was a small thing, but there was not much you could do for a person there. They still made us fight. We couldn't go easy on each other, the headmaster or handlers would hurt us more than we could do to each other." 

He pointed to the one that went over his eye that Silver gave him and Sam's eyes widened slightly. 

"That must be made being friends hard."

"He didn't want to fight me, I coached him but a handler copped me going easy. We were more careful after that."

He shuddered at that memory, not quite understanding the physical reaction, as Sam figured he should try to change the subject, he wondered if some day he could ask the man why Tony did that. He wondered if he knew why some memories kept coming back each night to. 

"Were they rescued with you?" 

"No. Snipe was.. killed 2 years before I came back. A serum reacted badly, I was not doing so well, I did not protect him as I should, I'd been losing time. Silver.. He went out for a job when I was checked out, and never came back. I discovered later that a handler took a liking to him." 

"I don't think I want to know what happens when a handler likes you, do I?" 

"No, we always said no to the offers. He always said no, but someone didn't care about his no, I still… hope? I think it's hope. That I'll find him. I don't think I'm doing too bad Sam. I sleep some every other night. I can even have a blanket these days." 

He was pretty impressed with himself over that, his Soldier had helped. Offering to stay awake as he slept. They'd even both slept for short periods without him becoming too stressed. 

"The fact your still sane is a damned miracle. Blankets are good, I love blankets, why wouldn't you be able to have one?" 

He chuckled at that, and let a bit of it slip into his eyes and smile. Sam stilled. 

"I'm not. Don't think I ever can be again. Those two, they were my anchors, and something snapped when they were taken from me. I'm bits and pieces, but there's enough that I can be happy. I think that's worth something, right? Blankets, they tangle your legs when people attack you in the night, can cost you seconds." 

"Yeah, that's a whole big something Tony. Its amazing that you've come back from that place. So, is your happiness in the shape of a tall dark and broody guy with a metal arm?" 

He didn't know why, because he'd known that Sam knowing was a possibility. They hadn't hidden things very well on the previous night. Maybe it was because they'd been discussing the Charnel House and him losing the two people that had kept him sane. Maybe it was because he'd recently dreamed of Silver. Out of nowhere a feeling of dread and panic flooded him. Sam seemed to realise and he had his hands out, he didn't hear the words but they were soothing, his breath was ragged but he didn't understand why. 

His soldier was then in front of him. He swore he had just blinked, but wasn't he running with Rogers? He rested his forehead against his own, his eyes bled black and Tony's sparked gold in answer. He closed his eyes and slumped, his Soldier would watch his back, he could rest.

The next time he opened his eyes, they were on a sofa, he was curled up in his Soldier's lap. He didn't remember being moved. But he had his Soldiers arm wrapped around him that made him feel safer. Sam was eating breakfast on a stool slightly in front of them. He blinked a few times, his mouth tasted awful. 

"Drink?" 

A glass of apple juice was suddenly in front of him, he downed it and felt his mind clear slowly. 

"What happened?" 

"You had a panic attack." 

His Soldier ran his fingers through his hair to soften the news, nails scratching lightly. 

"Why? I don't understand why they happen." 

"It can be many things Tony, it was probably a combination. Of your bad night, the conversation we were having and what I said. I should have waited, but you seemed to be handling the conversation well. Have things like this been creeping up on you?" 

"Yes, I never understand why. It's frustrating. There are just so many things people just know, and I don't." 

"Well, if you ever need something explained. You can ask me. No matter what it is, big or small and I'll explain it to the best of my abilities, alright?" 

"That would be good, the chair, it didn't take my memories, but I think it took more of other things." 

"Don't worry about it, I helped James in the early days, didn't I?" 

His Soldier nodded and Tony found himself feeling a little better about the situation, even if he still wasn't entirely sure why these attacks happened. 

"Think you can eat Zolotaya Iskra?" (Golden Spark) 

"Yeah, think so, Stella Nera." (Black Star) 

"Oh my god, you have cute Russian/Italian pet names for each other and everything." 

Sam was sitting, watching them with his head on his hand, looking surprisingly happy now. He guessed their eyes flaring, his Soldier must have angled them away as Sam hadn't mentioned it. 

"And Tony, I won't tell anyone. If that's what you were worried about. I won't do something that could cause you to lose him." 

Like you lost Silver and Snipe. He didn't need to say the words, they were there and Sam had worked out what had caused the attack. He had a feeling that Sam would be a helpful ally. 

"Thank you Birdy. That means a lot."

"Steve is oblivious too, so you have that in your favour because you two can hardly look at each other without heart eyes. It's nauseatingly adorable. I love it." 

Yeah, he's definitely going to be work to win this man to their side. Dax and Siles would love him. 

It also meant that the workshop became a place where they didn't have to hide. When they were working, he could slide into his Soldiers space and breathe in his scent. Something Sam still couldn't get his head around, he'd hide sweets in the workshop to see if Tony could spot them. When he could show the man his magic, he was going to flip. 

  
  


After a few days, they duck out to pick up the amulets Tony had made before he'd come to the compound. Natka and his Soldier were already protected, and Tony snuck some wards onto Sam after he found out about them. So Wanda didn't pick that up before they could put the amulets into effect which would have Wanda off balance without her inside track. He had picked them up from his office and they were just going to head back. 

The club was doing very well tonight, the atmosphere had his heady a little foggy and his eyes sparking slightly. When his Soldier realised that, instead of heading to the exit, he pulled him onto the dance floor. It was busy, so they had to press close. His slipped a hand under Tony's shirt, adding his magic to the charged atmosphere. He was lucky that there were wards all over the club for people to not really notice bright, golden eyes unless they knew about them beforehand. They were seen, but because of the wards, no one saw them as strange or odd. 

That combination of the atmosphere, his Soldiers magic and the fact he was quite hungry, it had his eyes bleeding to gold. They didn't make it back to the office before he bit into his neck. They didn't end up getting back to the compound until nearly 1am. His Soldier looked smug the entire trip back and he was too sated to call him on it as he went to drop off people's amulets. They managed quite a bit of work done that night on the arm, and very little sleep was had. 

  
  


Natka was the only person awake when they stumbled down, chuckling slightly before he started laying out everything he needed for the arm. He was fed up of sitting on the floor in between bouts of being dragged away from their working by his Soldier. Natka looked amused as she got out more bacon and eggs to make them breakfast. 

"You two have had a productive night I see?" 

"Yup, lots of work, we're nearly done."

"Hmm, work, sure." 

They had FRIDAY monitoring Steve and Wanda, so he has a Soldier shaped seat as he blitzed his way through breakfast as he worked. Sam joined them for breakfast and the others seem to be sleeping in for a change. 

"Did you actually chew any of that?"

He glances down at his empty plate, where his Soldier, Sam and Natka had barely started. He'd mostly broken himself of that habit, but every now and then he slipped.

"Hard habit to break." 

He can see when Sam twigs, as he looked at his plate in a completely different way, then swapped his plate with Tony's empty one before heading to the stove. It was such a kind gesture that he was thrown for a second. 

"Thanks Sam, that.. Thanks." 

"No problem man." 

He actually eats at a more normal pace this time, and just as he was finishing FRIDAY informed them that Steve was about to enter the elevator. He was feeling a little off kilter and needed something to keep him steady through another Steve encounter, so he turned on his Soldier lap, looped his arms around his neck and kissed him. The long, soft kind as his Soldier ran his fingers through Tony's hair. Eventually he slides into the seat next to him, smiling and getting back to work. 

"How are they so disgustingly cute? They just booped each others goddamned noses!" 

"Aww Sam, you have a crush on them?" 

"Nope, just amazed at how big, broody giant and muscley, genius engineer can be _cute_. It breaks all logic." 

He and his Soldier snort at the same time, smiling before focusing on their work as the doors open. 

"See what I mean? They snorted in unison!" 

Sam huffed in a whisper before Steve actually came into hearing range. 

"Isn't there a better place for this than our only breakfast table?" 

"Sorry Steve, there wasn't space big enough in Sam's workshop and we needed the open area."

"There, Fry, scan pages 4 through.. 16."

Tony started laying the papers out, ignoring Steve completely and just focusing on getting the arm ready for fabrication and testing. 

"You two wearing those things Tony brought in?" 

"Yeah, I figure, I like having my brain to myself and as you explained, Wanda can't control it. I'm sure she'll be happier we are wearing them." 

"I agree with Sam. I'm uncomfortable that no one mentioned this before now and think we need to have a team meeting about boundaries."

He could feel and smell how conflicted Steve was it was obvious that he felt that he was in the right, that everyone was picking on poor innocent Wanda. Tony figured at some point he'd send the captain all of the files he'd amassed on the witch. The video evidence, the reports. Although he'd probably come up with some excuse. She wasn't an asset like he and his Soldier. She volunteered and was treated like an officer. There was a reason she'd been referred to as the pretty little princess of Strucker's Cell. They treated her like one. In the Experimental Asset Program and the Winter Soldier Program, assets and experiments were not treated like humans. They were weapons. They were referred to as it, or numbers or simply Asset for his Soldier. 

He shook his head as FRIDAY finished his scans, he finished moving things around and sat back when it was all assembled. 

"Like it?" 

"It's awesome, I can't believe you finished it already." 

"Well I had my awesome assistant. Although I might need to sleep soon. You kept me up all night." 

"Like you were complaining." 

Tony snorted as he staples the large pile together. Nope, he definitely was not complaining. Although he did fancy a lazy day where the two of them could curl up in bed, with a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee. Lazily doing whatever they wanted, as slow as they wanted with no interruptions. 

"True, some of the best ideas are had at 4am. This entire section on the wrist, I bet we wouldn't have come up with that if we hadn't been sleep deprived and pounding cans of red bull."

"So you happy with what we got Snowflake?"

"Yeah, it's perfect."

"Awesome, I have the materials coming in tomorrow, I'll start machining what we can with what I've already bought, FRIDAY, do we have the equipment in Sam's workshop the machine a replica."

"Sure do Boss."

"Start it, I'd like to see how it moves out together with the titanium alloy before I finish up."

"What are you going to make it in? I thought the titanium alloy we picked up was it?" 

He let a grin spread across his face, as if he wasn't going to upgrade the living hell out of this thing. He wanted to give him everything, no more pain, light, let him be able to feel. For that he needed a very specific metal. 

"Darling, have you seen how battered my suits get? You'll find out soon enough, let me surprise you."

"So I'm going to have two arms again? How long?"

"Depends how your healing, I can check now, we can..?"

He stood up, coming to stand close, in between his legs. Close enough that he could feel his very tempting warmth. Super soldiers ran hot, as one himself, you'd think he wouldn't find this appealing as he did. 

"I'm fine."

He smirked as Sam wolf whistled, which his Soldier responded to by flipping him off. Tony ran his hands over where the metal met flesh. Sending his magic deep to see inside in a way. Checking each of the nerve connection points. Plus, it was an excuse to see his Soldier topless. No way would he skip out on that. 

"How does that feel?"

"Good, no more pain."

"None at all? This is an actual zero now. Not a you zero." 

His Soldier chuckled softly at that before looking up where Tony was glaring at him, eyebrow raised. He hadn't felt any pain on the scan, but he'd like to hear it to make sure. Tony was very much under the opinion that he had suffered in silence long enough with that monstrosity. 

"Actual zero. It's great, I can stretch and run and it doesn't hurt anymore. Even showering doesn't hurt and it even looks better… I didn't think I'd be able to look at it with anything but disgust. Now, I'm hopeful." 

He was happy that his back was to the others, because he couldn't stop the soft smile that provoked. 

"Now, that is what I like to hear darling. You have healed from the surgery in record time. I think so much of the serum was lost in trying to heal the constant damage, that was why you didn't heal as fast. Now we got rid of all that crazy, you are in top shape. I think you heal nearly as fast as me. "

"Hmm, when I am fully armed you still owe me a sparring session."

"I can't believe you just said that. Fully armed. We can give it a shot, I don't want to hurt you, but for that pun, we'll risk it.."

"Boss several parts are complete. Enough to start putting the test pilot together soon." 

"Come on darling, lets see what your arm is going to turn out like. Sometimes you notice things when you actually can hold it, so we can see if you want to change anything."

He tugged him to his feet, his Soldier chucking his shirt over his shoulder and practically damned sauntering towards the lift, giving Tony a very good display of his back as he went. He was going to find a way to pay him back for that. Sam had however banned then from doing anything below the belt in his workshop. 

  
  


With an assistant that picks up on things very quickly, even assembling very finicky things, they had the prototype together in no time at all. There wasn't as much movement or flexibility in one area as they had planned, so Tony was drawing up the changes when FRIDAY asked about lunch. 

"Tell Natka that we're going out for dinner." 

"We are?" 

"Yeah, I thought we could find a nice restaurant or something around here. I think we've been good, we deserve dinner that isn't full of Rogers trying to decide if I'm an evil interloper planning on world domination and stealing you. Corrupting you to my evil ways." 

"I think I like the sound of this. That and the corrupting, corrupt away Doll." 

He came up behind him and yeah, still no shirt as Tony was sketching. Well, trying to as his Soldier was distracting him by kissing his neck, which was pretty much guaranteed way to distract him. 

"FRIDAY, scan and print these." 

"Fancy breaking Sam's rule?" 

"What rule?" 

  
  


Several hours later, they headed back up to the common room as he figured Sam would be interested in the prototype arm. Sam's raised eyebrow at their slightly dishevelled, grease stained appearance just makes him smirk. His Soldier just looked happily smug. It was a good look on him.

"We thought we'd show everyone my new arm." 

"That's amazing Buck, so are you going to try it on?" 

"Na, this doesn't have the fine connection points I'm going to have to start building tomorrow morning. The rest of my material should arrive tomorrow. This is so he can get a real feel of it. We already made several changes after he held it."

He feels Wanda before she comes around the corner, as usual casting her magic out to slip into people's minds. The ease and sheer confidence that he was permitted to had complete access to people's thoughts, memories, everything rankled. That and how he knew she would wipe and change memories as she pleased. How she had had nightmares playing on loop in his Soldier's head before he cleared her magic from him. Even with the amulet now, and his Soldier having his own magic, he shored up his Soldier wards often. 

She was poking and prodding, trying and slip into his mind with all the grace of a stampede of bulls in a China shop. The amulet warmed at his chest as she was deflected with ease. He had added a bit of a kick to it as well. He could have just masked their minds, but these work by hurling the attack right back with a little extra force. Anytime she tries to access any of their minds, she'd be getting extremely powerful migraines, and considering how often she had been doing it, it would be a hard habit to break. 

He couldn't add to much, these amulets were fully registered with the Accords. Not supplied by himself obviously but purchased from a third party seller that he contracted and paid on paper. The contracts and the amulets were assessed by the Accords Council on Magical Artifacts and each amulet was registered to a specific person. He'd cleared everything a few weeks ago. They came with little certificates of authentication and everything. 

"Can I see it Yash?"

"Sure thing." 

The way Sam lit up when he got his hands on the arm after Natka, made him smile. He'd definitely gone in the right direction nurturing this side of the man. It would be fun to see what he would be like in his workshop back at the penthouse. There are a lot of possibilities for the guy that Tony could open up, even going back to university if he wished or he could just train him himself. 

"You know James, you should call her Tash instead of Natalia. Then you would actually sound like twins Yash and Tash. No one would mistake you for dating then."

Tony's eyebrows shot up and he nearly choked himself, instead he moved fast from where he was standing with Sam and perched on the chair next to where his Soldier was sat. He was glaring at Sam who just gave them both a smug smile back. He figured that was in retaliation for breaking the no below the belt rule. Fair play really, he found it quite amusing that he was willing to play back, he'd definitely do well at the tower. 

"You alright there darling." 

His Soldier gave him a look that could be summed up as 'still worth it.' 

"Yeah, Sam's just a jerk. Me and Tash? That is ridiculous, who do you think we are, sodding Lanisters." 

Tony was caught off guard by his own laugh that he almost lost his balance on his perch on the chair. A solid arm slipped around his waist to hold him in place. He sank into the warmth. 

"Hey, if I'm not allowed to make Lanisters jokes, then James definitely isn't allowed! When did you even watch Game of Thrones anyway."

"Tony told me there were cute wolves in it."

"Dude, how can you do that to the man!"

"Hey, I gave him a full disclosure warning. He's only seen season 1, we have more to watch. Anyway, I have to scrub this off before we can head out." 

He rubbed at a patch of grease on his Soldiers arm. Yeah they'd definitely have to get cleaned up before their date. 

"Me too." 

Tony stepped from his perch gracefully as his Soldier stood, losing the warmth of his arm around his waist had him shivering a little. As soon as the elevator doors closed he moved right back into place. They both went straight to his floor, the facilities were much larger up there. The previous iteration had put in a ridiculously huge and fancy shower. He and his Soldier were very thankful to past Tony. 

As he was stripping off FRIDAY brought up the video feed of the common room. They both watched, amused as Wanda stomped her foot that she wasn't struggling. His Soldier stood behind him with his arm wrapped around his waist. His chin balanced on Tony's head. 

"Are you using me as a prop." 

"Mmmhmm." 

"I'm not that short." 

"Not short Zolotaya Iskra. Perfect size for me. Can tuck you under my chin and when you are finished making me that beautiful arm, I can wrap my arms around you." 

"Okay, that was too smooth for me to argue, Stella Nera. Shower?"

"We have some time to kill before our reservations." 

"We have reservations?" 

"We do." 

"Hmm, I like this. You taking me out for a treat darling?" 

"That I am doll. You deserve the damned world."


	10. Fractures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve's late night interrogation from the other side..

The arm, fully assembled, sporting the natural brushed black of Vibranium is definitely pretty impressive. His original draft had included the ward words on the inside, but his Soldier found the ward language Tony had been creating these last few years beautiful. Which Tony found endlessly amusing as he'd been making it with an eye to efficiency and power over flowery pretty swirly crap. 

There was a large golden ward for magical defence in the placement where the red star use to be. The central symbol for defence had the base symbol for magic printed around it in a triangle. There where a few other smaller symbol between them for mental, astral and physical. That alone was a powerful ward and he'd taught his Soldier how to keep it powered. 

Many wards could stay active when he'd pushed power into them. But the stronger the ward word, the more often it required magic to run from. Otherwise it was like a car running out of petrol. 

After he had developed one defensive ward for his Soldier, he couldn't leave it at that. The idea itched in his head until he'd been forced out of bed to design it. His eyes had been flared gold as he did and he'd not stopped until he had completed it. His Soldier decided that whatever pushed him to created it, his magic, their joint magic was obviously something to be listened to. Tony was pretty sure it was his hyperfixation. Considering the last thing their magic had been insistent about something it had been about them being soulmates. So he planned on wearing it. 

There were secondary and tertiary warding etching into the vibranium as different layers too. Some on the surface that would remain black under his Soldiers magic until activated when they'd flare gold. The arm was the most powerful, complex and intricate magical item he'd ever created. It was the equivalent power of nuke but with all delicate grace he could sculpt into it. Dax was going to rib him the second he saw it. He might be a middling magical power but Dax's sight rivaled his own, so he'd see it for what it is. The magic nullification etched into the fingers was a big deal on its own. 

Tony was just finishing up on the diagnostics as his Soldier was tracing the symbols. Tony was kind of… he'd created that ward language, because his magic was different, using other ward languages had felt restrictive (and seriously, too swirly and flowery, give him a ruler and he was happy.) 

Dax had told him originally that he had to learn them because he couldn't just make his own. Which if anything was just a challenge. He'd spent a lot of time on it, and developed more as they were required, when Dax started using his wards it had left him feeling strange. But a good strange. Proud? He wasn't sure, but it was a weird feeling. His Soldier wearing it? That was something else. Which was probably why he'd gone over the top and added so much. He'd practically turned his arm into a magical artifact, all he had to do was activate specific wards to do what he wanted. He'd worked in several other magical artifacts to boost the power and make it easier to fuel his own magic into it… yeah. He might have gone over the top. 

"Are you sure you don't want me to hide them?" 

"Not a chance, I love it." 

"Even if I just made it up?" 

"Especially so."

He was not blushing. Tony did not blush. 

"Ready to try and connect?" 

"Hell yeah!"

He was excited enough that his eyes had bled to black which immediately caused his magic to surge up in answer. He let it, because they'd had to push their magic down a lot lately, so they let it run free. Crackling between then, moving into and with each other as he affixed the wires for diagnostics. Magical and Mechanical. 

The arm slipped into place easily, he guided the internal connections with his magic, feeling his magic rise up and flutter curiously around each of the new connections that he shower it. 

"Wow that feels amazing and.. I can feel.." 

He ran his fingers across the leg of his trousers, mimicking it with his flesh hand. It didn't take long to have everything hooked up. The diagnostics, well they did take a while. Because Tony is nothing if not thorough and he added a lot to the arm. After a solid 2 hours of magical diagnostics, even he was starting to flag magically. 

"Why don't we take a break for hot chocolate Tony?" 

"Are you sure? I can keep going… " 

"It won't be going anywhere, let's go and have a drink, yeah?" 

His Soldier stands, holding two hands out to tug him to his feet, and then again so he falls against his chest. 

"Hmm this isn't chocolate." 

"Maybe I wanted a kiss before chocolate." 

"Well I can't deny you that now can I." 

  
  


It's 3am by the time they take it downstairs for hot chocolate. He picked up on the scent of Rogers as being still present rather than old, which was lucky as FRIDAY hadn't told them so they'd almost walked in holding hands. Luckily Rogers seemed exhausted and hadn't actually seen anything. 

Tony scanned that chaotic mess of papers on the table automatically, seeing pictures of a few of the places he hit during those two years. It was a bit strange, looking at it all.. Spread out like this, it had him feeling a little detached. Then he noticed that there were even pictures of The Charnel House. Including the solitary cell. His eyes jumped from one to another, there were other missions to. Missions he'd completed when Hydra had him under control. He wanted to turn around and leave, he felt nauseated but he didn't understand  _ why _ . 

"Rogers, we didn't think you were still up, we were running diagnostics on Soldats new arm and decided hot chocolate was an immediate requirement, want some?"

He turned and headed straight for the kitchen, walking stiffly as he pulled everything out to ready their drinks. He could feel his Soldiers attention, but he couldn't exactly say anything with Rogers sat right there. Plus, he didn't even know what he would say if Rogers wasn't there. He didn't understand his own reactions when crap like this happened. 

"Sure, might clear my head. Wait, you have the arm on." 

"Steve, I think you need to go to sleep if you only just realised I have two arms."

Most of his attention was on the drinks, but he still kept some attention free watching the two men. Steve obviously thought he was completely distracted by the way he was squinting and glaring at the ward words on the arm. 

"Did you pick that decoration Buck?" 

The heavy implication that he had decided the decoration and what? Forced the man to have it on his arm? What was it with this man and his habit to blame absolutely anything he could on him? Tony had been willing to live and let live in the beginning. When he'd come back, he really had been on board with letting Steve live out his life far away from him. Then he started picking and pushing and deciding that he was the authority on Tony's new life. They he'd found out he was allowing his Soldier to suffer. 

Even if this whole soulmate thing didn't happen, the idea of the Hydra witch tormenting a person who had been in a situation similar to his own was enough to get him involved. Tony didn't claim to be a hero, he knew that he was not a good person, he knew that he had interests a little south of legal to probably be classed as good anymore compared to previous iterations. Yet, he would never allow Wanda to come into his house and torture Pepper or Rhodey. Yet he let her do whatever she wanted, to his Soldier. 

Now, he was what? Openly investigating him whilst he was staying in the damned property? 

"Yeah, I thought they looked interesting and I talked Tony around to it. I think it gives it an interesting edge." 

He smiled at that, the genuine warmth ease the ice forming in his chest as set the drinks to cool in the kitchen as he moved to the table. He moved some of the papers around, ostensibly to make room for their mugs. What he had actually done was slip the pictures of the Charnel House out of his view. Rogers didn't seem to notice, but then he also didn't seen to realise he had pictures of the place he'd been tortured in for half a fucking decade beneath his nose. The man's sense of observation was lacking at best. His Soldier saw and looked concerned, he'd be fine.

"You should consider putting this up on a board Roger's. Like the old fashioned red wire connecting deaths. What is all this for anyway." 

His Soldier answered, and the irritation that flashes across Rogers face almost makes sitting in front of this tolerable. 

"The guy who took down Hydra, Mr Gold. Stevie here is a bit obsessed with the guy." 

"Huh, if you find him give him my thanks. Who knows where I'd be of it hadn't been for him." 

It's extremely weird to be talking about himself as if it's a different person. 

"Nat thinks he and the Operative are the same guy." 

Well that's good. Otherwise he'd be talking about himself as if he's two different people and this is already confusing him without adding that. They were different parts of him, different fractures, different to Tony, but he remembered more of what he did as Mr Gold than his life before the Charnel House, he'd gotten a lot of his memories of The Operative back, but he had all of the documentation he'd recovered. Had to, to ensure the missions he told people about didn't match with any of the Operatives. 

He put down Rogers hot chocolate first, that he had added cinnamon to for some reason. He wasn't sure why. He did that sometimes, it was like his body remembered but his mind didn't. So either Rogers really liked cinnamon enough for him to have made it that way enough times. Or he hated it and his past self had found it funny. His Soldier's was made from actual memories however, so when he brought the drink to his face to smell, something inside relaxed a little. 

Maybe he'd ask Sam if he had any idea why he was being weird over a couple of pictures. He wanted to put them away, but Rogers seemed to be in no rush. Some of them he wanted to shred. To burn. 

"Who is the Operative? Sounds creepy, and not very imaginative." 

Hydra did suck at naming its assets. Just as much as their logo sucked really. Did no one, at any point stand up and point out that it wasn't a Hydra? It literally only had 1 head. Their whole shtick was cut one head off and there are more, yet their logo had a single head. 

"I think he was my replacement, or one of them, Hydra apparently went on an Asset binge when they were in control. The  _ Handler _ we spoke to in Sokovia, he said they were still trying to create the perfect Asset after me. Who knows how many other Assets are out there." 

Not many. Most of the people who entered the Charnel House died at the first stage, very few made it through the initiation and even fewer made it through the training. After that, the few that lived, they were whittled down again from just trying to survive day to day life that didn't even include the occasional death on mission. Or the occasional handler that got too rough. The few whose minds snapped under everything. It was called The Charnel House for a reason. Hydra had had enough control worldwide to funnel large amounts of people into the Experimental Asset Program. There were the ones that had come back with him. But most of them had been so green they'd only started testing. If the Weasel had still been there they'd still be in the Black Cells. 

He was looking at his drink so he didn't have to look at his life in bloody snapshots in front of him. His Soldiers hand on his shoulder was the only thing that kept him steady. What the fuck was wrong with him? 

"Do you remember anything like that Tony, anyone else called The Operative?" 

He didn't flinch at the question because he saw it coming a mile away. He was pretty sure he was bad at working out this mental health shit, but he was utterly sure that Rogers was worse. He let his irritation show and his town is sharp and harsh. Does Rogers really want to go down this road? Does he really want go force him to recount this shit at fucking 3AM with zero care for the fact it was highly classified? Apparently yes. Because information on a ghost story for closed cases is apparently more important than anything else. 

"They didn't exactly bring us together like Asset daycare Rogers. When we came together, we didn't swap names or hobbies." 

He ran a hand through his hair, thinking and deciding fine. Rogers wants this. He can fucking have it. 

"They blindfolded me." 

"What?" 

He's not sure how that could have been interpreted incorrectly. It was three words. It _defined_ him in The Charnel House. Their attempt to declaw him. Make him less dangerous. Oh how it failed. 

"I've got a reputation don't I Rogers. I escape. It's what  _ I do _ . So, I never saw a single person. Even with the chair. They blindfolded me. They'd have actually blinded me if they didn't occasionally need my eyes for missions." 

"Anything to keep you contained." 

He switch his sharp, hard stare to his Soldier. Breathing for the first time who knows how long. It feels like the breath was ripped out of him. He didn't usually talk about this, it made people uncomfortable. Now, now it was oppressive. Like he couldn't not talk about it. 

"Fighting, training, bathing, eating.  _ Everything _ in  _ darkness _ ." 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark.  _

"For missions and certain situations, the handler would stand behind me and take it off. Whispering that the chair will take it all and the darkness will return.  _ Those _ are memories I could do without."

_ I am flesh and I am bone _

He can hear the songs in his head, the ones he'd used to keep information. To carry through the wipes. They came with a price and that is his fractured mind that was slipping. The only way to save parts was to break himself. To fracture himself on the chair. 

_ Rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold _ . 

"You.. Went on missions?"

_ Do you ponder the manner of things _

"Yes. If you are thinking I broke easy Rogers, they had perfected the process." 

_ In the dark _

"Shortening it, building and breaking in new assets at record speed. Surgically removing my personality." 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark _

The metal hand gripping his shoulder pulls him back, his vision had started to waver. His mind slipping back. 

"Those are things handlers hold him." 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark _

"How do you know..?"

_ I am flesh and I am bone _

He could feel it tight across his face, could feel the press against his eyelids, could feel how it would catch his hair when they tied it. How it would rip out when they removed it. There was one handler.. He'd been.. Nice, it never hurt when he took it off. But that was confusing in itself. Made it worse going back on. 

_ Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold _

"Because I know what Handlers sound like, and that shit is exactly what they'd say. I've seen several types of Assets, the other Winter Soldiers, failures, too much rage. The Enhanced, well, they left a trail a mile wide. Not loyal though. There were others with different serums, X genes. Hydra was always trying to make the perfect asset. The perfect operative, he might have even been one I trained, but even he went rogue."

_ I've got fire in my soul _

"Tony, have you gone through what you remember about the missions?"

Tony turned to him slowly then, he didn't bother with pretenses, not where he was now. Because sure he was half in this kitchen, but part of him. Part of him was there and it would never leave. 

_ Rise up, ting ting, like glitter _

"Did you do that with Bucky?"

_ Like glitter and gold _

"Of course not!" 

_ Like glitter _

"Then why do you expect me to do it?" 

_ Like glitter and gold _

"Hey Tony, Tony look at me." 

_ Like glitter _

He feels stuck as his Soldier draws him back. Pulls him out, like gasping from beneath the water. Like being released from the post the guards, like waking up tasting iron from the chair. The songs dulled back. 

His Soldier doesn't seem to give a shit that Rogers is watching. He skates his fingers across his face. Paying particular attention to where the blindfold would have been before running down his cheeks, his eyes drift half closed, but not completely because the dark is waiting. He feels hazy and light, his mind is floating. 

"Steve, be careful for fucks sake. I'm 9 years free of Hydra. Tony isn't. What did you do when people trying to talk to me when I was 2 years free. Back off, you sound like a handler." 

He was years free, wasn't he? Didn't those two years count? As he was a dead man operating under a single function? He shouldn't still be fracturing. He smoothed his hands down his Soldiers arms to calm him. 

"I'm okay darling, just caught me off guard. Rogers, you got a precedent set with Bucky that I couldn't be tried for what Hydra forced me to do." 

"So why does Bucky have a tracking bracelet and you don't?" 

Does he think he likes that? Not that he knows anything about their relationship but he's close to a fracture and he has to remind himself Roger's doesn't know. The snarl is there in his words, as he turns his attention back to Rogers. A different fracture from the cold, hard, slice you, kill you and walk. This part, this is fire, rage and burning, that's the part that forced his last handler to dig his own grave. That fracture is all Gold deary, when there was no reason to behave anymore. 

"Because when I was found, I came quietly. There was no chase through countries, no illegal border crossing, no exploding bridges and destruction of airports and then I didn't vanish with my friend for several months as a fugitive. I stayed in a cell in a fucking straight jacket bolted to the floor whilst Pepper proved who I was. I stood in court next the Rhodey and went over some of what I remembered and then the three of us left with Happy and went to Stark Tower where I finally slept. Pepper organised the press conference and I changed the security on the tower. You know the rest."

" So because you had better resources-"

Tony slammed his fist on the solid wood table that creaked under the strain. If we are playing that game… He might not have all the memories, but his girl does. FRIDAYs memory was perfect, timeless. 

"You had access to them. You threw away the deal I had put together for Soldat because you thought I was  _ imprisoning _ the witch."

His Soldier tenses at that, turning to glare at Rogers. He would make a point to let FRIDAY tell him everything later, let him see the recordings. 

"What?!"

"Calm down Buck, you were triggered because of that doctor." 

"Pepper told me what happened. The doctor I sourced was murdered. Don't you fucking dare try to use the gaps in my memory to rewrite history your way." 

He shouldn't be shocked, but part of him actually was. The conversation changing pace all of a sudden jars him again. 

"Have you lost many memories Tony?" 

Soft, hot fingers on one side of his neck, hard, warm from his own body heat on the other. They keep him in place. In the room. In time. In his mind. Rogers seems to want to cast him back but his Soldier catches him each time and holds him here. 

"Yes. At first I didn't know who I was. I saw myself for the first time and wondered who the fuck was that. Because I'd had that fucking blindfold on so long. At first.. I'd never seen my reflection. Slowly, so slowly bits came back. Rhodey's voice, a flash of Peppers hair, Happy's hands. Little bits of people that I tried to put together. Failed a lot at first too."

He didn't know  _ why _ he was answered, but he's not talking to Rogers when he does. Because he  _ can't _ understand. Not because he hasn't experienced it, that's part of it. But Rhodey, he  _ understands _ . He  _ wanted _ to understand. He tried, and talked. He let Tony set the pace. He never looked at him as if he was waiting. Rogers only looked at his Soldier as if he was waiting. Waiting for a past the chair burnt away. 

Rogers, all he tried was talking about memories and ends up aggravated that his Soldier isn't exactly who he was before he fell off that train. 

A person is a sum of their Life's experiences and memories. 

Hydra burned their memories out of their minds and ripped, sliced, cut into their personalities. Taking aspects and beating them like metal until some shattered like glass but others were folded, made more, tempered and hardened them into the sharpest, unfeeling, perfect blades in their arsenal. 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark _

But the serum heals. Memories return.. Feelings. A weapon cannot feel and be a weapon. The clash, it creates fractures in the steel that under the hammer shammer. Forcing them to start again. And again. Again. Again. 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark _

"I remember that. I would write down every single scrap in these notebooks. Half of it didn't make any sense. It was like I was trying to jam together different pieces of a jigsaw, and it just made a mess."

Both of them share a dark laugh at that, they both know what it's like to see blood on their hands they don't remember spilling. To hear your name and wonder what that is. To see your reflection and hit out because you thought it was someone else. 

"I hadn't been in the chair for as many years as you had, so the damage… healed faster." 

Well. It did after his exit strategy. After he finally, after 7 years of on the razor's edge of madness and starvation, finally had a meal. 

Had a reason to see people beyond the parameters of expectations. 

"Plus my serum wasn't compromised trying to heal that mess they made of your shoulder. I found my file, they used the chair more for me than on other assets, constantly worried that I'd remember like you did, I think. I remember snarking at the handlers intentionally, not knowing why I was doing it. Knowing what it would lead to. I never stopped. I always knew what buttons to push."

It got to the point that for the handlers he _had to_ obey, he didn't talk. The ones who knew about Silver. He practically had go gag himself as sometimes different words slipped out than what he intended. 

"I killed so many handlers even though I knew it meant the chair."

"The longer between wipes the more that comes back. So why did we do things that trigger wipes?"

He knew why, but he still stumbled on it. 

"Being blank was easier."

To be a weapon is to not feel. 

_ The dark, the dark, the dark _

To remember is to feel. 

Rogers looked confused, so he tried to explain, but wondered if he could ever really explain. Could ever explain how the fractures worked. 

"Conflicting nature. Behave, evade punishment. Stay away from the chair. Remember, remember you are a person, not a weapon." 

"That's when the chair called to you." 

Tony nodded to that whilst shivering slightly, he dipped his finger in the melted goo of the Marshmallows, just staring, face blank. His mind was back in that room, the dark. The smell of it, the feel of the air. The sound of the others. 

_ Sing for me Gold, drown it out _

"The tests were the worst. The handlers the feign stupidity, to see if you'll try and escape. Stay and be rewarded for being a good little asset." 

He felt himself sneer at that. That was what he hated most about to ones who knew about Silver. That it worked every damned time. 

_ I've got fire in my soul _

"Run and find yourself in pain." 

_ Rise up, ting ting, like glitter _

"Sometimes you just stare at an open door, not knowing if it's a trick. Makes you doubt everything but the orders." 

_ Orders.  _ Tricks. Tests. Always back to the  _ orders.  _ That made his mind itch and the cracks moved. 

_ Like glitter and gold _

"Everything but orders." 

For his Soldier they were a comfort. He could understand, you take comfort in whatever you can when they burn you down. Silver. Snipe. Silvers song playing in his mind. 

_ Sing for me. Sing for me _

He needed to get away from these pictures. From the reports. To leave the place he could never leave. 

"Come on darling, we have some more diagnostic tests to run before I can release you to bed. Night Rogers, enjoy your hot chocolate." 

They stand together, he was stiff, much more mechanical than his usual flare and grace. Like it was out of reach. A different part of his fractured mind that slips like sand through his fingers. 

When the doors slide shut its like his strings have been cut and he drops. He blinks and he's sat on the sofa in the penthouse, not entirely sure how he got there. Strange is that Sam and Natka are there. 

"Aren't you meant to be in bed?" 

"I was up working on the wings and FRIDAY asked me to come up. What happened?" 

"Steve had all his files out on the table when we went to get hot chocolate and thought it would be a great time to question Tony on his time at Hydra." 

"I'm fine, just.. Hazy." 

"I'm going to make him pay for this." 

"I'm fine Natka." 

"Tony, you are not fine right now. Something would be very wrong if you were." 

"I just.. Need a shower. It's… I can still smell the place. The songs and fractures are too close." 

"Steve went too far Tash, how.. How could he do that to a person?" 

"I don't know Sam." 

He wavered slightly when he stood frowning as he made his way to the bathroom. He knows that they're confused, he hadn't really explained the songs well how he kept information when others wipes. Hadn't really explained any of it to Sam, who sounded genuinely upset. 

Not sure how could he explain. How they'd strap him in singing and he'd carry on when they'd finished just to freak them out. Not recommended, but that was after, he didn't care then. To actually be blank might have been a relief.. He could hear the others talking but couldn't pick on on what exactly, but that was fine. Because their voices anchored him.

"Is it safe for me to get in the shower, Zolotaya Iskra.. I still have this diagnostic attachment." 

He chuckled and stuck his head out of the showed, the warmth was making him feel more solid. 

"Come here." 

It took a few seconds to disconnect everything. 

"There, put that on the table, I remember where we were. You're waterproof now." 

"Good, because I was just going to jump in anyway." 

"I know, come here darling." 

"I've got you, Zolotaya Iskra." 

"Thank you, Stella Nera." 

"Anytime. Everytime. Always." 

"Sap." 

"You love it." 

"Yeah, I do." 

_ Glitter & Gold - Barns Courtney _


	11. A New Song

He was back in the penthouse and more restless than ever. FRIDAY had told Rhodey about Rogers late night questioning and Tony didn't bother stopping them. They could do whatever they like to the man. 

He hadn't liked feeling himself start to fracture again, not after so long feeling close to whole. He was angry that he had done that to him. 

The man was  _ still _ trying to contact him. Emailing him, he sent a few missions that he'd labeled as The Operative, to see if Tony recognised anything about the mission. After that any emails from the man are filtered through someone in his family. 

He spent a few days in Chicago with Marcone after he left the compound which did wonders for his anger management and had him feeling more stable. Marcone had also found him a few Hydra bases that were possibly still active, which was a pretty damned good present. There were a few people that he wanted to introduce him to for it, three people, three different desires for 3 bases he could take his Soldier hunting in. Well, when he was out of the compound. 

Because it was a  _ when _ now. Because now? Tony was  _ angry _ . 

_ They all fell to their knees, and begged that drifter _

When he first fractured to keep those memories, to force himself to leave a trace for his friends to find him. He split apart his own mind, and realised that the man who broke the world to find one asset, never noticed a second. He wasn't angry. 

_ Begged him please _

He fractured himself more, and more. To remember, but not remember at the same time. 

_ As he raised his fist before he spoke _

Because on the surface, he remembered the songs, the information coded and hidden from himself. Because the information he remembered was his family. You feel for family. A knife can't feel, a knife that feels shatters when what he needed was to fracture. 

_ I am the righteous hand of God _

He fractured. He sang. But he wasn't angry. If anything, he  _ laughed _ . 

_ And I am the devil that you forgot _

When he shattered completely and walked away bloody from that Hydra base, he didn't feel much. A cold pit in his gut for the two people who had kept all those fractures together over 5 years. Without them he was untethered. So he hunted. 

_ And I told you one day you will see, that I'll be back, I guarantee _

When he found out why he ended up in The Charnel House, he wasn't angry. He was tired. He came back to the world with force, with power, with a ruthless drive to never, ever be put in that position ever again. 

_ And that hell's coming, hell’s coming _

But when Rogers sent his mind back to that place? With pictures. With word. With careless actions and deeds. Now? Now he was angry. Now he was rage, fire and hell. 

_ Hell, hell’s coming, with me _

And he'd turn Rogers desires to Ash in his throat.

It was time for a new song. 

The seed had been planted, because he always wanted the option. Options are nice to have, seeds are good to grow. It didn't mean they'd bear fruit, he always liked options. Rogers did the rest himself, Tony hadn't had to do anything. 

_ Righteous men are those who suffer _

All he did was create a fake art auction, make it only visible to Rogers. FRIDAY was amused when his mission was rejected, because no one else could find mention of an auction on that day at the address he gave. Apparently he thought Tony was manipulating his orders. Didn't stop to ask why. Didn't do more research. 

_ Hope is our gravity _ .

Rogers really had a high opinion about himself to think Tony would use his sphere of influence to stop The Avengers from looking into him. He'd spent 5 years leaving them clues that they never found as The Operative. He spent 2 years cleansing the world of the infection that was Hydra as Mr Gold, still caught up on the junk code, leaving a trail. 7 years they were chasing him, when he was making it  _ easy _ . 

_ We blaze the trail and we'll never fail _

He didn't need to manipulate their orders, because he wasn't making it easy anymore. He wasn't leaving obvious trails. His targets were different. His goal was now his own. 

_ Because You will always be _

He didn't need to hunt when the prey was charging foolhardy into his lap. The hunt wouldn't be long, because he wanted now. He  _ wanted  _ with every inch of his being. He wanted with every fractured piece. Every broken shard. And he was a selfish, selfish man. 

He wanted. He would get what he wanted. And leave only ashes in its wake. 

_ I will burn your kingdom down if you try to conquer me and mine _

It started with a text. 

  
  
  
  


He arrived at the compound pretty early, specifically when Rogers and Wanda were not around. His Soldier took one look at his face and promptly dragged him to the penthouse. He might be taking him home soon but that didn't mean he hadn't missed him. 

"Doll, you have no idea what that look is doing to me." 

"Mmm what look is that darling?" 

He smirked as he backed the man into the bedroom, his eyes bleeding slowly out to gold as he dropped his suit jacket. The bed hitting the back of his knees sent his Soldier back, propping himself up on his elbows. 

"That dark look, that your going to ruin someone, stand over them. Take them apart." 

He smiled because that was how he felt, smile sharp as his ran his tongue over his teeth, knowing just what that tell did to his Soldier by now. 

"That a request darling? 

"Fuck yes."

  
  


He stayed on the floor to pack up the few things here that he wanted to take with him. Pepper had scheduled someone to pick up anything on the three floors that was indicated when the compound would be empty. He dressed in something easy and comfortable to spar in. A long sleeved top because the chances of the sleeve that covered his left arm accidentally being removed during sparring was too high. 

He strolled past the common area towards the kitchen, snapping his fingers to direct people to the kitchen to start prepping their dinner. Satisfied when Sam, Natka and his Soldier were ready and waiting.

"You guys cooking lunch early?" 

He glanced over at Rogers, giving him the barest amount of attention which he knew would annoy the man. As would the way he was walking around as if he owned the place. Tony always could find those little stress fractures in a person, where to push, where they'd bend. Where they'd break. 

"Making lasagne, that way it will be ready by the time we're finished rough housing and are starving."

He turned back to his three kitchen assistants, to them he gave a warm smile. 

"Right, Sam, you want that dicing lesson? Nat and Soldat, you know your jobs." 

"Are ya sure about this Tony, you're not even making backup noodles?" 

"I have the utmost faith in you darling." 

He brushed past his solder, his hands resting on his hips as he looked around him at his progress. As things were coming along absolutely perfect, he nodded and turned to Sam, pulling out his knives from the cupboard. Last time Sam had been trying to chop vegetables with a blunt knife, which is the most dangerous type of knife in a kitchen. So he was willing to share his good knives.

He flit between the three, checking and altering where need be, but mostly focused on Sam as he was mostly learning a new skill. By the time it went into the oven, ready for FRIDAY to turn on in the middle of their session in the gym. 

The four of them made it to the gym quite a while before Steve and Wanda did. He used that time to speak to Sam about Wanda. He wanted the man to start doing some research. To find out who had been accepted onto the team with little to no background checks. That she had unfettered access to their minds for the better part of a decade. By the time Steve and Wanda entered, he could feel the man's unease as he looked at Wanda. Even as Natka sought to contort him into stranger positions. 

"Does Hydra have a yoga program or something."

Tony chuckled as he relaxed and moved to Sam who was wavering quite badly, he pushed his back straight changed his position slightly, whilst bracing his shoulder. 

"Ow! Oh, okay, that.. that was easier." 

"You'll get it Birdy. Natka won't have it anyway. So what's the drill here, we sparring one-on-one or do you guys have something special."

He saw Rogers confusion, which considering he hadn't once been seen with the full armour on since he returned, it shouldn't have been a shock. He could have brought his adapted gear. That had the benefits of the armour without compromising his ability to move or triggering his claustrophobia. Combined with the serums that mimicked the super soldiers, it wouldn't be a remotely fair fight. 

"One on one sounds good Doll, let's see what you got."

"Where is the suit?" 

"Didn't bring it, you just got little ol me. Nat, if you need to intervene, do it." 

"I will Tony, you'll be fine." 

No one made a move for the other matts, content to watch him and his Soldier it seemed. This wasn't actually his first time sparring, he wasn't about to let himself get out of shape after all and he had several sparring partners back at the tower. But as none of them were known for their abilities, it would seem odd a person as powered as himself sparring with them. 

He had been looking forward to this however, and the black spreading in his Soldiers eyes, clearly he wasn't the only one. 

"What did he mean Natasha?" 

"This is the first time Tony has sparred with a person since he was freed. You remember how nervous Yasha was of sparring in those first years? That is where Tony is now. It's why Yash is perfect really." 

"But what if he hurts him?" 

"I will be watching if Tony looks like he's slipping." 

They came together at the same time, just testing each other at first. Teasing mostly, to get the other to overreach, to get a sense of how they moved and warm up. To Tony fighting was dancing to music only he could hear. 

"Tony wasn't so… graceful before was he? He only really trained in the suit."

"Me and Tony sparred occasionally and he was good, slippery and flexible but this.. This is much different." 

"Shit, never seen Barnes move like that. Didn't think Tony  _ could _ move like that." 

They were both having fun, and he had a feeling that when he moved to the tower, everyone was going to like sparring with him. Even as he slammed him hard on his back. He breathed out as he hit, arching his back to wrap his legs around his Soldier and flipping their positions. From there, they were playing more than sparring, laughing as the flipped each other in different ways

"Time, because if you two keep at it, no one else will actually hit the mats." 

"Guess this means I win darling." 

His Soldier smirked before standing up, taking Tony with him, he yelped at suddenly being several feet off the floor, over his shoulder. He chuckled as he hadn't expected that. 

"Sure thing Doll. Well have a rematch some time. Wings, you up?" 

"Sure, you ah, gonna fight with Tony on your shoulder?" 

"Yeah darling, you going to leave me hanging? Although, can't complain about the view." 

He was going to sit and watch Sam and his Soldier after he was dropped down next to Natka. Maybe go against her next. He had expected Rogers to wait a little before coming against him. 

"See Tony, I told you it would be okay." 

"Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Actually seeing I think made the difference. If I was blindfolded again.. I think there would be issues." 

That was true at least. He hadn't tested sparring in the dark or blindfolded since he came back. He planned to at some point, but Rhodey glared at him the last time he mentioned it. 

"Do you fancy going up against me Tony?" 

"Uh, yeah. Sure thing Rogers." 

He was a little dubious as they headed to the ring. He knew the man's angle, he was painfully obvious, especially to a man who had fought blind for 5 years After 3 encounters, each one aiming for his neck, he didn't think the man could be more obvious without just asking him to remove the pendent so Wanda could get into his head. He was telegraphing his moves as much as his desires. His plan to arrest Mr Gold, maybe him too, and get him family back how he wanted them. After a while he took pity on the man, using his magic to break the clasp and catch on his hand. 

Wanda wasted no time diving straight into his mind with no grace whatsoever, she likely thought she was being skillful with her attack as Tony wrapped her up in chaotic memories and peppered little details here and there to give her the impression she was seeing important secrets. Anything actually important was safe behind layers and layers of ward walls.

The worst thing was, that if she had had training to the degree he had, she would be terrifying. A force to be reckoned with that would be a danger to reality and anyone that caught her eye. Thankfully she hadn't felt the need to train to the degree he'd been forced to. Believing she could get by on sheer raw power because so far, she had. It was one of the reasons that he planned to take her out before she found a  _ reason _ to increase her skill level. She hadn't really come up against other magic users, so she hadn't realised how lacking he was. 

With the clasp finally broke and the amulet slipped to the floor and Steve knocked it between two of the matts. After that, Tony didn't quite see the point of prolonging the fight with Rogers much longer and quickly took him down after playing a little. 

He refused to spar with Wanda. Couldn't run the risk of her picking up on his magic. It was unlikely, considering he doubted that she knew how to scan for magic. He and Silver had practiced with each other for years, giving him an almost painful degree of sensitivity. 

They continued Swapping partners for a while, Sam was nervous to go up against him, but he spent their match more guiding the man than anything. He had good instincts, Tony knew that he and Natka could turn him into someone quite lethal with a little time. It would be fun. 

"Food will be ready in 20 minutes." 

FRIDAY called out and most of them perked up at that, as some of them had been starting to flag slightly. Tony hopped from where he'd been sat, watching Natka and Sam, throwing advice in to the man to combat her. He started heading towards the elevator instead of the gym showers, because no way was he showering in gym showers when there was a very large shower upstairs he could share with a certain super soldier, turning to talk to the group as he walked backwards. 

"That's our cue for showers, no stinky people at my dinner table." 

He caught his Soldiers eye, tilting his head minutely as he span on his heal. 

"Showers this way Buck." 

"I forgot to bring down my conditioner, my hair is a rats nest without it so I'm going to shower in my room." 

He caught up with him and as they passed out of view, he slipped an arm around his waist. 

"Well that was fun, wasn't it." 

"Watching Steve trying to remove your necklace was actually painful doll, I'm surprised he even managed it." 

He laughed aloud at that, stripping of their damp clothing and leaving a trail to his shower.

"Oh darling, he didn't. I used my magic." 

"I'm not surprised, I know your mind is safe without the pendant, but I don't like the idea of her in your mind." 

"I'm not a fan of it myself, she just blunders in. Hiding behind her lack of skill with raw power." 

  
  
  


As Wanda and Rogers were having a meeting to discuss the information that they had illegally taken from his mind, everyone else sat ready for lunch after changing into more comfortable clothing. 

What surprised Tony was the level of sheer ignorance the pair of them were showing. He knew that Rogers wasn't a fan of the Accords, even after he and a few others had spent a good year turning them from Ross' leftover mess to something good. Something that protected supers of all different kinds, and baseline humans. Rogers had a magic user on his team, that alone should be cause to keep up to date on all additions and changes regarding magical skills.

For example, The Accords covered that this kind of crime clearly under the Magical Maleficence Act. Section 4 of Telepathic Abilities, Paragraph 5 - Information Retrieval. 

Even if they had actually gleaned something incriminating from his mind, which they had not, there was no proof that Wanda had heard anything about a Gallery Auction that completely did not exist. She could have just claimed to hear that as they had nothing to back up or verify her claim. The complete lack of proper cause, consent and just, entirely not bothering to follow any of the carefully laid out procedures, at all, would mean that it was entirely inadmissible anyway. 

The fact they had also gone to the point of damaging an entirely legal, registered talisman to gather the information just added to it really. It was hilarious how damned  _ easy _ they were making it for him. Tony could have both of them up on charges before they realised how badly they screwed up. The fact it all happened in the gym, which was monitored 24/7 by Friday and a seperate CCTV system. They didn't retreat to one of the private floors to discuss what they did. They didn't even enact _any_ privacy protocols. 

Wanda would be declared Malefactor and Rogers would go down as the instigator. That they did it whilst  _ still on parole _ would bring further charges into play. That they were discussing his trauma, which entered entirely new realms of confidentiality, especially as The Charnel House was completely classified. Even if they had followed procedures, Wanda wouldn't be permitted to do the reading anyway, given their prior conflicts and that they had been on the same team. FRIDAY saved everything to his private server should it ever come in handy.

Everyone was already sitting around the table in a similar way as they had when Tony had spent his vacation at the compound. Tony was in the middle of his Soldier and Natka, but Sam was opposite Natka this time. Rogers sat next to Sam as his Soldier was plating up at the table. Rogers entered, holding his necklace as if he'd just found it. 

"Did someone lose a necklace? I found it in-between the matts?" 

All of their hands immediately jumped to their necks, he patted his neck, even though he had already known it was missing. 

"Huh, I didn't even feel it. Thanks Rogers, that was very nice of you." 

Tony reached out to accept it, smiling, before he pulled a pack of tiny screwdrivers out of his pocket. It didn't take long to fix and have it back in place.

  
  
  


He was pulling out the ingredients for the chocolate pie as he'd gotten puppy dog eyes from all three, Sam, Natka and his Soldier. He had predicted as much and had the ingredients added to their last delivery. He could feel Wanda was up to something, he just wasn't exactly sure what, so he kept an eye on her. So when she ' _ accidentally _ ' dumped a large mug of scalding hot water on his chest, he wasn't even surprised as he hissed slightly from the sudden sting, waiting for it to cool. 

Her plan didn't click in his mind until Sam panicked into first aid mode. Doing the obvious thing when a person gets scalding hot water dumped on them. Remove the article of clothing. He was more resigned as he shrugged it off. His Soldier was instantly there with a cool soft towel that was nice against his skin that was already shifting from bright red to pink. 

Sam was frozen in place holding his sodden shirt staring at his arm. Natka was behind him, practically invisible to his senses as she stood frozen. He Soldier had seen ever scarred inch of him, so wasn't remotely bothered. Wanda had already scuttled off, smug and glutted, even though she didn't stick around to see herself, probably using Rogers eyes. 

"Man, I'm sorry, I just.. I didn't want you to burn. Which I realise is kind of dumb because of how you heal but I still didn't want you to get burned just because you could heal and I-" 

He turned his arm down, putting the brand against his body, even though it didn't change the fact that Sam was seriously freaked out from seeing it. Sam did look at his other wrist, spotting the black band, but he seemed too overwhelmed to focus or question it. 

"Hey, Birdy. It's fine. All this doesn't really bother me much, I'm pretty used to it. It just… freaks people out." 

"I'll get you another shirt doll." 

He gave him a smile as he jogged off, he was the only person in the room that had the biometrics to enter his room and he'd be quick about it too. He felt Rogers staring at his chest, and figured this little drama stemmed from something he said. If anything, it showed how little control he had over the witch, that on a whim shed dump scalding hot water on someone because their leader was simply curious? Curious because Tony covered his left forearm maybe?

Tony turned to continue where he'd left off on his dessert plans, because nothing the Witch and Rogers could do would actually stop him doing what he'd planned. He didn't realise that maybe he should have waited until he had a new shirt as Sam sucked in a breath. Yeah, he'd forgotten about that. Tony turned back to him. Squeezing his shoulder to comfort the man. 

"I'm OK man. Really." 

Sam didn't look even remotely convinced. He didn't begrudge him the fact that his eyes kept flicking to the branded Hydra Property. Even when his Soldier returned with a new top that he slipped on, he caught their eyes flicking to it. If it was anything like Pepper and Rhodey, in a few weeks he would be less freaked out. Maybe Sam could even explain to him exactly why it freaked people out so badly. His Soldier was the only person who had looked once, and then treated it just like any of his scars. It didn't help with his anger towards Rogers however, it just added fuel to the burning fire. 

  
  


He sat in the empty floor, looking out of the window at the city, even so late at night there were lights everywhere. He wondered if Rogers would actually go through with it. Would he really break parole? Would he really deliver the witch to him? Hand over two of his team members. Water those seeds of discord so recently sown in the last member? Complete shatter those Captain America sized blinders the Birdy still carried.

It wouldn't take much, Tony could practically feel the disillusionment when Sam was near Roger's. He would have preferred to come to Sam himself, to show his magic maybe? But this worked too, rip the bandaid off so to speak. For his Soldier and Natka, coming to his side was easy and within their temperament, Sam, well he was a little different. He wouldn't have Sam walk to his side blinded, he needed to understand exactly what he was. Would Rogers set the stage for him? 

_ When the fires, when the fires have surrounded you _

Oh he hoped so. 

_ And the whole wide world's comin' after you _

Plus, if this went as planned, he got to see his Soldier in the suit he'd had made for him. 

_ I've got blood, I've got blood on my name _

He knew that Natka would lay it out for him before he stepped on the Quinjet. Because he wanted Rogers to  _ know _ and  _ understand _ that he had made his own grave. Tony had given him the shovel, but he'd sat back as the man dug and dug his way down. Now there was just to see if he would lie in it. 

He heard the doors of the elevator open and felt a smile spread across his face, he allowed the gold in his eyes to manifest at his hand. Twisting the streams of glitter and gold around his fingers, reflected in the black of the night sky. His eyes shining brightly, he had to admit, he cut as imposing figure. Good. He wanted to play a little. 

In the dark, like Glitter and Gold. 

The music was low, it was strange almost, hearing it  _ outside _ of his mind, they entered to Glitter and Gold because FRIDAY is a bit of a glut for setting a scene. 

Wanda and Rogers walk in first, he watches them on the reflective surface of the large windows. He knows that all they can see are his feet on the table in front of him, and his arm with the shimmering gold is all the brighter in the dim lighting. When the door closed behind them, he snaps his fingers, causing the gold streams with dissipate into gold dust. Activating wards around the room, locking down the doors. Smirking as he sees Rogers jump, Wanda anxiety spikes, badly. Likely because of the amulet, unable to access his mind. He can smell Sam's confusion, his Soldier and Natka's amusement. 

_ I am flesh and I am bone _

"Well this was almost too easy." 

Rogers head snaps his head up when he recognised his voice, gaping slightly at the back of his chair. Tony blinked away the gold in his eyes. 

_ Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold _

"What?" 

He had always wanted to do this. If it wouldn't have resulted in hair getting all over one of his favourite suits, he'd had added a cat for when he turns the chair on a quick burst of magic. Crossing his legs ankle to knee, his arms relaxed at the armrest. 

_ I've got fire in my soul _

Tilting his head and letting that smile slowly cross his face, the one that chills Rogers until he can smell the acrid undertones of fear. The one that's a little too sharp, too fractured, too shattered, that spells madness and pain. It seems the man might have finally realised he was a force to be reckoned with. Shame he didn't realise sooner, well, shame for him. Tony is quite enjoying this situation.

_ Rise up, ting ting, like glitter _

"I've  _ always _ wanted to do that." 

_ Like glitter and gold _

Rogers seems utterly baffled, but a smile quirks at Sam's lips at his dramatic flare. He hears a quiet snort too that has to be his Soldier. He focuses all of his attention, heavy on Rogers, sifting through his desires like cards as gold sparks in his eyes. 

_ Like glitter _

Rogers obviously has no idea what Tony is talking about as his eyes locked on to his own and he lets the gold spark deep in his eyes. Lets it spread. 

Rogers ends up looking away first. Visibly disturbed with the ease and way Tony sees through him. Touching any deep, dark hidden place and plucking desires from his psyche. 

"I should have it known of was you!" 

Wanda snarls beautifully, madness of her own rising to meet his. Stupidly she lashes out with both hands. Her eyes shot through with red as tendrils rip towards him. Tony turns his attention from Rogers slowly, with a bored look on his face even though he was sitting there, alone against five, but Rogers never seems to stop and think  _ why _ . Doesn't warn his little pet Witch. Doesn't know that what she's doing is risky. Sending her core essence away from her like that. 

Their brand of magic user, experiments. Not evolution. They're strong, rippled with pure, unmatched raw power with their core essence given  _ form, _ unlike any other magic user. It's not without its downsides, they have more access to that core than any other magic user he'd heard of. He'd done a lot of research since meeting Dax. What Wanda never bothered to learn, that you  _ protect _ your core,  _ guard _ it, because whilst it gives they great power it opens them up in a way humanity was never meant to exist. 

Her confidence in her unmatched power was always to be her downfall. She wanted power, to be the best, to kill him. He has more power, he knows how to use in in ways she couldn't conceive, and he'll bring her down with a snap and a spark. 

_ Like Glitter and Gold.  _

He raised his left hand almost lazily, as if he had all the time in the world as the red tendrils lashed towards him. He splayed his fingers, gold wrapping around his fingers tightly as he thickens the air between them with a quick spell. The gold between his fingers brightens, then he snaps. 

Just a snap, the dust sparks. Throwing off sparks like an arc welder but in pure molten gold. It just takes one, one spark to hit one of those red tendrils and magic crackles loudly. Igniting her core essence with excruciating pain. More sparks fly and soon every red tendril lights up and it's catching, moving towards her, lightning fast, throwing of molten gold that flutters away to glitter and gold. 

She screams as she drops, she smells of rage but the acrid tang of fear is clear as she realises the sheer ease of Tony's defence. He slowly turns his attention back to Rogers, keeping eye contact as she sobs in pain, the same smile on his face. 

"Didn't take much, did it?" 

"What? What did you do to her?" 

He thought it had been pretty obvious what he did. He took out the strongest weapon in his arsenal with a snap of his fingers and the barest spark of magical energy. 

"I said,  _ it didn't take much _ . To make you think I'm planning some global dictatorship and for you to launch an illegal mission with zero information! As for the Witch, she should know not to send her core essence so far from her body. Especially to another magic user. Sloppy."

He waved a hand passively that had Rogers flinching, clear in his distaste for her magic. If there is one thing Hydra beat and drove into him in blood and pain, is an utter contempt for pathetic displays of mediocrity. An utter waste of potential. Although in this case, it's best for the world she never really tried. 

"You… You've been forcing us to do your bidding, changing our orders! Making us stop searching for Mr Gold.. You."

"Actually. I really haven't. Haven't touched a thing, well, except getting Clint his discharge notice. Now, that was all me."

"No, you've been.."

"Any proof there Rogers? Any at all? I'd barely given you a thought. I don't even have a line of contact with the people who decide your missions. Just a few little words was all it took, I wasn't even going to do much about it. You just had to push, didn't you? Do you even know where you went wrong? Where you pushed too far? Pay up my Natka, I told you we wouldn't need your plan.."

"Yeah yeah.. I thought it would take more. "

Nat sighs as she stalks past Rogers, stepping over Wanda who is still whimpering on the ground, leaving Rogers staring as she hands over 50 dollars to Tony. He shoots her a shark like grin as he neatly folded it and slipped it into his shirt pocket. She stands on his right hand side, slightly behind the chair. Leaning against it in an artful manner, styling herself as easily as Tony. 

Tony returns his eye contact to Rogers, unnerving the man is amusing and no one told him he couldn't play a little. Smirking now, Natasha at his right hand. He can almost feel the gears turning in his mind, and he doesn't have to wait long for his desire to shift, to turn sour with desperation. 

That's when he talks. 

"Payment acceptable my Stella Nera?" 

His Soldier steps from the shadows, the Witch having not bothered to stand or make any move to defend herself, has made his job easy. His hand slips around her throat with zero resistance, shock flashes first, probably that he willingly touched her. A bare second where she thinks she has the advantage of skin contact, until the magic nullification ward words flare to life along his Soldiers fingers. Coming together with the large ward at the back of his hand and magic flickers from ward to ward up to the one at his shoulder. Wicking her magic away and leaving her powerless in his grip. She thrashed and kicked, but he barely noticed. Her strength was nothing against his. 

"Magic nullification wards worked into the Vibranium. I make sure my people are safe and well cared for you see Rogers. My Soldat was in enemy territory with a little Ved'ma playing with his mind.  _ One _ of his requests was to combat magic, the only magic that can be cast upon him now requires  _ express consent _ ."

Rogers opens his mouth but doesn't seem to know what to say, a damned miracle. Tony shifts shift gaze slowly to his Stella Nera, his Soldier, completely dismissing Rogers. 

"Payment Accepted, Zolotaya Iskra. " 

"Mmm bring her over her darling. I'd like her a little bit more unconscious for transportation, don't you think?" 

Tony holds his right hand out, with a come here gesture as his Soldier lifts her easily, clear off the ground and brings her to him. Rogers goes to follow, and Tony proves once and for all why you never go up against a magic user of a field of their choosing. Not when he'd had plenty of time to prepare the place. If anything he's going easy. 

"Ah ah ah now. You two wait there." 

A lazy wave of his hand as he powers up the ward word he had coded to each of them. He would rather leave Sam free, but he doesn't have assurances of his loyalty yet, time for that in the future. A gold symbol flashes to life under Rogers and Sam's feet. Sam finds himself unable to move but that is all, a sign of respect for the man. Rogers finds himself unable to move his feet and his voice silenced when he tries to shout.

Wanda is dropped at his feet, the second she touched the ground a bright, strong golden ward word flared to life. Wicking away her magic to power the wards he'd written into the room, like a battery. Tony catches her face easily with his right hand, holding it in a vice like grip, tilted upwards before looking at his Soldier. Ignoring the ongoing snarls and weak struggles from her. His Soldier was far more interesting. 

"What we talked about?" 

James dropped down to his knees on Tony's right hand side, no gold symbol flashes to life beneath him, and he sees Rogers face crumple when he realises its entirely voluntary for him to be there. Tony had made a point of telling Rogers that the defence on his Soldiers arm meant that no one, not even he could cast anything on him not without consent.

Tony reaches out with his right hand to gently run it through James' hair, small flashes and sparks of gold light up as he takes a second to enjoy the feeling, as he pushes his head into his hand. The pair of them enjoy playing up to an audience. He smirked as Natka rolled her eyes, but also sees her smiling out of the corner of his eye. The three of them are quite well matched in that regard. 

"Oh Wanda, how many nightmares did you pollute my Soldats mind with? How many times did you force your twisted visions into his mind? How many times did you use him for training back at Hydra? Gleefully playing with the people they brought you. Discarding them like broken toys when you were finished. "

He flicks he eyes to bore into Rogers who flinches under the intensity. 

"That's right Rogers, I can even send you actual evidence too. You see,  _ I _ act on facts."

He turned his attention back to Wanda, his smirk turning sharp and dangerous and his eyes lighting up, steadily, brighter with gold, shifting the nightmares implanted took quite a lot of magic, rendering her unconscious too less. 

"Well little Ved'ma, I'm sure you've forgotten all of your torments. Not to worry deary, you'll remember soon enough." 

There was a bright flash of gold then from both his palms as he transferred the data, so bright that Rogers and Sam were likely left blinking back spots as Wanda keeled over. Everyone on his side had known to expect it, so they closed their eyes as his magic flared. His Soldier was wearing a smirk that matched his own and looking down at the Witch. Satisfied and smug. 

"She's going through what she put me through?" 

"Yes, for as long as you desire darling." 

"Good." 

His Soldier gave her one last glance before standing, Tony's hand slipping from his hair and sliding down his arm, leaving a trail of gold dust glittering in the low light. Holding his hand lightly as he moved to stand in the mirror position to Natka. At his left hand side. They're still holding hands when Tony finally pulls his attention away from him and back to Rogers and Sam. Wanda all but forgotten on the floor. 

"Well, gentlemen, this has been delightful, I'm sure you'll agree. You have 36 minutes to return to the compound before someone realises you have broken the terms of your parole. Sit tight boys." 

He waved his hand casually and the gold light at their feet faded away, feeling the released magic return to him and he wipes out all the ward words he'd set. Causing them both to stumble slightly as they were no longer stuck to the floor. 

"Tony, what are you doing? Bucky, what's going on?" 

Tony shrugged at Rogers, as his Soldier pulled him up gracefully to stand, Tony steps closer to him, his hand slipping around his waist, at the same time as his Soldier's arm pulled him closer. Tony tipped his face up to nuzzle into his neck, smirking as his metal hand runs through his hair. They're definitely as bad as each other, unconcerned about their audience.

"I gave him what he desires most. What is it that you desire most Sam? Want to be able to help your family? Help your sister out of debt? To… have your own set of superpowers? To be free to build? Mm veritable gold mine. Think on it birdie. My door is always open." 

He raised his hand not currently being occupied with his Soldier, a smaller, but equally bright flash of gold leaves a white card held lightly between two fingers, expensive card with a phone number printed in black. Nothing else, another flash and it disappeared again from his hand, leaving Sam staring at his pocket slightly dumbfounded. He could feel certain desires sharpening as they usually did when they realised he could make them come true. 

His Soldier slowly detached, his fingers lingering slightly over his wrist. He bent down to grab Wanda, carelessly tossing the unconscious woman over his shoulder. Tony starts off at a slow pace in the opposite direction that they came in, towards a solid looking wall, humming to himself. 

_ Righteous men are those who suffer _

With a little sway and kick to his steps, moving again to the music in his head, the new song he chose for Rogers. 

_ Hope is our gravity. _

Nat falls in at his right and his Soldier at his left. He knows that the movement is smooth, that Rogers will see it for what it is. Something born of time and familiarity. 

_ We blaze the trail and we'll never fail _

The wall opens up as he draws close and they seamlessly step into another lift, he spins on his heel to face Rogers as Tony raises both of his hands. Natasha and his Soldier hold out their left wrists as Tony carries on humming. 

_ Because You will always be _

Two small wisps of gold curl out from Tony's hands and wrap around the tracking bands, they instantly snap open and clatter noisily to the floor. Natasha picks both up, pocketing them. 

_ I will burn your kingdom down _

"Ciao." 

_ If you try to conquer me and mine _

They see Steve stumble forward as the lift slides shut and they drop, moving smoothly down the building. 

"Drama queen." 

Natka smirks, Tony shrugs, no point denying it. Plus, he knows that she had fun. They all did. Well, on his side of the equation and Sam got a preview of what life could be like on their side. He was pretty sure it wouldn't take long to bring Sam over. His Soldier hummed the tune he'd been moving to as they left before asking. 

"What was the new song you picked for him?" 

He smiled, all teeth and sharp edges because it's still playing heavy in his mind. He knows they don't mind his sharp edges. Knows he loves every shattered, fractured piece. 

"I will burn your kingdom down, if you try to conquer me and mine." 

"Good choice Zolotaya Iskra." 

"I know." 

  
  


_ Hell's Coming With Me - Poor Man's Poison  _

_ Me and Mine - The Brothers Right _

_ Blood On My Name - The Brothers Right  _

_ Glitter & Gold - Barns Courtney  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wondered about encoding memories into songs, it's a tactic I picked as a kid, run a song and a memory through your mind enough and eventually they link. Keeps it stable even if someone says X didn't happen.
> 
> Right, I'm going to go and put the first Chapter up for Silver now xD. I'm utterly hooked on this series, I don't have another written after Silver, but I'm definitely keeping it open, I love this world to much to let it go and Sam deserves some love coming up I think.

**Author's Note:**

> I found a place where I ramble my insomnia and occasionally blather about my writing :)  
>   
> [My Tumblr](http://corvixa.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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